Wednesday, July 4 Woke to hazy skies. I realized it looks like a fire somewhere, but I can't smell smoke. The hazy skies continued all day, sometimes heavy. It's a shame because these mountains are beautiful. They call these the Trinity Alps for a reason. Likely some damned idiot with fireworks. Here is a picture … Continue reading Onwards towards Etna

My Birthday had one final high point. I passed through a road crossing and found Trail Magic! This guy, Dennis offered me an Apple. Dennis is "Day Hiking the PCT". As a retired schoolteacher he lives out of his van and does day hikes "up to 10 miles". He's been doing this for 6 years … Continue reading Day 3 towards Etna

Sunday, 7/1: The day was clear and hot and I had nice shade for most of the day. The last third where I was up near Castle Craigs State Park was bare rock. It was also in the heat of the day which made it even tougher. I made a nice campsite around 2:30 and … Continue reading Birthday on the way to Etna

Sunday, July 1 Had breakfast this morning with my son and didn't get to the trail real early.  However, full coffee shop breakfast: Worth it. It's going to be a hot day.  Saturday was in the mid-90's, so starting early just makes sense.  Hopefully climbing higher will also be a reduction in temperature.  Since I'll … Continue reading Day 1, back on trail

The forest has stayed lush with massive old growth fir mixed in with young green trees as we said our final goodbyes to Mt Shasta.  The weather has stayed warm and dry for several days. This is hiker heaven.  It is also nice we picked the dates we did. The huge flood of hikers are … Continue reading Onward to Castella/Dunsmure and a split…

Our Zero in Burney was nice overall marred by the rude employees in the little store. They seemed to be rude to everybody, so it was hard to take it personally.  Monday, July 4th------- We said goodbye to Mt Lassen and watched Mt Shasta loom larger whenever we crested a ridge. The forest changed as … Continue reading Leaving Burney SP

We arrived at Burney State Park around noon. Even though it is a holiday weekend, they have an area set aside for "Hiker/Bikers" off in the far corner of the campground. It's just $5/person per night. The showers are coin (5 quarters for 5 minutes) and they have two deep sinks behind the showers for … Continue reading Zero at Burney’s

Note to self: Walking through old lava fields sucks.  Friday,  July 1st ------- The terrain continued with the low chaparral, finally finding some stands of trees. We started early and the temperature was cool. By noon we had decended to the rocky plains where the heat baked us. It was over 100deg and there was … Continue reading Rocky walk to Burney SP

Hat Creek Rim. We all dreaded this section between Old Station and Burney State Park.  It's known as the "Northern Desert" to PCT hikers.  There is a long volcanic escarpment, or cliff overlooking a valley with the Hat Creek running along the base of the cliff. The trail follows the top edge of the cliff … Continue reading Hat Creek Rim to Burney SP