Day 69 – Prepare for liftoff!
Originally published on Mason Hikes the PCT 2017.
Mileage: 23
Today was an easy day to prepare for a high-mileage day tomorrow. After walking around 30 miles every day for a while (except yesterday), a 23-mile day is a welcome break from high-mileage hiking. I started the morning in standard fashion by accidentally sleeping in an extra hour and a half. If I know I don’t HAVE to wake up at a given time, chances are pretty good that I won’t. My body wanted more sleep, my body got more sleep. 😊
Once I was finally awake, I had a nice long breakfast, some good solid stretches, and eventually started hiking around 8. Since Guthooks no longer works for me, I had no idea what kind of elevation was in store, but I was excited to find out! I knew the end would be mostly flat because it was part of my “flat 50” dream, but I needed to get out of the national park before camping since I didn’t have a bear can. I wish the bears would just ask first and learn to share with hikers. 😕
Soon after I got into the park, I was faced with a trail junction. Should I take the PCT or go down the Boiling Springs trail? Boiling springs sounded pretty awesome, so I obviously went that way, eventually making it to a boiling volcanic lake which was bizarre and mesmerizing as its steam was blown into miniature tornadoes (waterspouts?) by the wind. Pretty cool!
Afterwards, I ambled along for a few hours, walking through meadows, forests, and campgrounds. I initially got pretty jealous of the resort with a pool in the middle of the woods, but then I realized that I’m surrounded by lakes and rivers and streams and could swim in a much more scenic spot whenever I wanted.
Since I was taking it easy today, I did just that!
I stopped at Lower Twin Lake, a beautiful lake nestled in the rolling hills of Lassen National Park, which is home to the infamous bears that are responsible for the new bear can rules. As such, I kept a keen eye on my surroundings to make sure none of those pesky bears were coming to steal my things. They must have known I was ready for them, because they didn’t show their faces all day!
Lower Twin Lake is a beautiful lake and was the perfect temperature, so I got in for a quick swim before doing some laundry. I sat in the water while I washed my socks and my shirt, and then got out to hang them up to dry and take off my pants to wash. I hung up my socks, hung up my shirt, took off my pants, aaaaannnnd there’s a leech on my leg. 😐 Well, I guess that’s enough swimming for me today!
He was a nice little guy and didn’t bite me as far as I know, so he was just suctioned to my leg and along for the ride for a little while. When I flicked him off my leg, I watched him swim away like an alien inchworm, looking more and more like a parasite from another planet the longer I watched. Isn’t nature neat!?
Since I was done swimming, I packed up my things and got back to hiking, soon reaching a burn zone in the park. Like the fire zones from Southern California, it was bizarre to see so much death and destruction surrounded by flourishing life. It also made for some interesting colors as I walked.
The burn area was huge, lasting for miles and miles of my afternoon hike. With no shade available from trees, it was HOT! It’s been getting warmer and warmer each day, and I haven’t seen snow in ages! 😢 My only escape from the heat is a nice quick dip in a river or lake, but now I have to be careful to remove any alien parasites when I get out!
After finally clearing the burn zone, I reached the border of the park and a few miles later, my desired campsite along Hat Creek.
Somebody painted a bullseye, this has to be it!
I ran into another hiker at the campsite who had been getting water, and he seemed bewildered that I would be stopping to set up camp at 4:30PM. I just shrugged and continued setting up my tent, knowing that I would need to get some early sleep tonight so I could survive tomorrow.
I set up camp, made some dinner, and looked at what was in store for me if I did a 50-mile day tomorrow. The first 35 miles or so we’re pretty flat and slightly downhill, but they had little to no water available for a 29-mile stretch, so I would need to carry extra. After that, it was up and down for a little to get to Burney Mountain Guest Ranch, where I may or may not have a resupply package waiting for me, and then it finished off the 50 miles with a few miles of uphill. Definitely doable, but I’ll just need to see how I feel at the time. I don’t want to push myself too hard!
Once I had gotten a lot of water, I tried to fall asleep around 6PM. I had alarms set for 11:30PM so that I could tear down camp and start by midnight, so I was all set to try to hike as far as I could in the morning. Sleeping while the sun is up is hard enough, but it was especially difficult because of the heat, so I slept off and on until it got a bit darker, at which point I fell into a deep sleep to help prepare me for what was to come.