Start: 0700 - PCT mile 1397.5 (near Hat Creek Rim)
End: 1450 - Burney Falls State Park
Miles (today): 19.5 (18 PCT, 1 alternate, 0.5 off)
Miles (cumulative): 1458 (1302 PCT, 94 alternate, 62 off)
Well hello desert heat, nice to experience you again. Please don't try to kill me this time.
:)
It was so hot today that I was reminded of our time in the wonderful desert. The terrain was mostly flat and, once we got through the rocky parts, Nick and I walked at a similar pace. We seemed to fly through the miles, which was good because I just wanted to get to Burney Falls and out of the sun. However, hiking at such a brisk pace in the heat was a little taxing. Not wanting to get dehydrated again, I made sure to drink lots of water, even though the water in my pack was hot and unappealing.
I wasn't planning on taking any breaks on the way to Burney Falls, but around noon, just as my calf muscle decided to be grumpy, we stumbled upon some trail magic - Wild Bird Cache.
The trail magic was great! Cold water (oh, the joy of drinking something cold!), iced tea, some snacks, and some cold soda. They even had a picnic table for us to sit and relax on (and sign). Nick and I spent over 30 minutes there, which I think my calf needed, but when we started hiking again it seemed as if the temperature had risen 10 degrees (the forecast was triple digits, not sure if it got quite that hot, though).
With less then a mile to go my body started to break down and I almost (almost) started to cry. Happily, I have learned that getting emotional is just my body's way of saying she's in distress, so I quickly ate some snacks, drank more water, and slowed my pace (I probably had been pushing too hard in the heat but I really just wanted to get there!). After a few minutes I was back under control and all was well (well, except for the fact that it was still crazy hot).
Nick and I took the alternate route to Burney Falls State Park so we could see the headwaters and the amazing way the riverbed went from being completely dry to being full of rapidly flowing water. It was pretty cool (remember, I'm a nerd).
I had been looking forward to getting to the state park all day as I heard they had wifi and charging stations just outside the visitor center. I had visions of sitting in the shaded area, sending in blog updates, and catching up with emails. Alas, when we finally got there we learned that the wifi was only on when the visitor center was open; Dawg Whisperer (DW) broke the news that they were going to close in 10 minutes. 10 minutes?!? That's not enough time for much at all, but I did my best to respond to a few emails and decided to send in the blog updates next time (sorry dear followers!).
Once the wifi was turned off, Nick went to the store to pick up our resupply package and to get us some ice cream. He came back with the ice cream (and some beer) but not the resupply package (due to a little snafu at Habitat Grant, the package was mailed out a little too late. We had hoped it would still get here in time, though).
No worries. We plan to see if the package comes tomorrow morning - if not, we'll have them return to sender and we'll resupply from the store. We have nearly made up the time we lost when Nick was sick and neither of us want to get behind again. We'll have to wait until 0900 tomorrow morning, though, which means starting our hike in the heat... But that also means we get to sleep in.
While we were charging our devices and chatting with other hikers (Fed Ex, Slim, Iceman, and DW), we met Jeff and his grandson, Patrick, who were vacationing at the campground. Patrick had a squirt gun and I was more than happy to let him squirt me with the cold water. In fact, I insisted that he squirt me. :) When Nick mentioned that his beer was getting warm too quickly, Jeff offered to take Nick's extra beer back to his cooler at his cabin so they would stay cold until Nick was ready to drink them.
When I finally felt ready to move again, I gingerly made my way to the hiker camping area. On the way, we passed Jeff's cabin and he invited us over for dinner - he said they had extra food. How nice! Nick set up the tent, we showered (only $1 for 4 minutes!), and we rinsed our clothes (my socks were so full of dirt and dust that it took forever for the water to appear somewhat clear after wringing them out). Then we made our way to site 119.
Jeff was with his daughter, Jeanette, and her two kids, Alice and Patrick. We ate these amazing fajitas with chips in lieu of tortillas, I had a glass of wine (so classy), and for desert we had cold, crispy apples and some dark chocolate. Even better than the food was the company - we had so much fun talking to Jeanette and Patrick! I still can't get over how friendly people are here or how it feels as if I've known them for months after only 15 minutes.
Jeannette, Alice, Patrick, and Jeff with their figures
For all those moms out there - check out Jeannette's blog, ringmastermom.com. It sounds like she has a lot of awesome ideas for kids, some of which you might find helpful! :)
Along the trail:
These signs make me so happy now - we've hiked more miles than we have left
these footprints made me laugh - they could have been made by Bigfoot
this smily face worked - it made me smile despite the heat
