PCT: Day 127

As has become the norm lately, I was up early and on trail just after 5am. The afternoons have become too hot to hike, and I haven’t convinced myself to start night hiking just yet, so 5am starts seem to be the best bet for now. My plan was to cover about 30 miles to set myself up for a short day tomorrow into Burney Falls where Blue Lizard will meet me for a zero.

After a short initial climb the trail traverses the Hat Creek Rim for several miles with great views of Mt. Lassen behind me and Mt. Shasta in front of me. A long ways below the rim I can see a forest decorated with lava fields. I talked to Blue Lizard along the way, and we realized she could make it to Burney today. She packed and took care of errands while I pushed on to get to Burney. I ran into some much needed trail magic from Magic Man around 11am. He had cold drinks which mean everything right now. The hot days turn all of my water warm before noon, and I look forward to nothing more than a cold drink.

I’m back on trail around noon and push until 1:30 at which point the heat is unbearable. I’d later find out it got up to about 95F today. I started hiking again around 3pm, not because it cooled off, but because the wind picked up, taking the edge off the heat. The trail descended from the rim before crossing old lava flows. The trail surface became a brutal mix of visible and hidden pumice ranging from golf ball to baseball size. Just to make it more fun, the blister on the ball of my left foot has become aggravated again and grown, and I’m constantly stepping on uneven pumice that jabs it painfully.

I came around a corner at the 24 mile mark (8 miles from town) and saw a car in a clearing which signaled the 2nd trail magic of the day. This time it was provided by Stacy and again was glorious cold drinks. She was packing up when I arrived so I’m glad I wasn’t 5 minutes later. Between my blistered foot and the heat I was not looking forward to the next 8 miles to town. I talked to Stacy and she was more than willing to give me a ride to town. I got in around 6pm and managed to grab the last room at Shasta Pines Motel. If I had walked the rest of the way to town it likely would have been gone when I got there. Blue Lizard and the kids arrived around 10pm, and we caught up for a bit before crashing for the night, all of us exhausted from our travels today.