July 12, Day 84: 1219.7-1249.7
Miles Hiked: 30
Gratitude of the Day: I’m thankful for growing up in a Catholic household. I don’t practice anymore for personal reasons, but I’m glad to have been raised in a religious house. I love to learn about others beliefs and thoughts on God.
I woke up early before my set alarm of 4am at 3:30, but decided to not get up and even when my alarm went off I hit snooze twice, but then thought if I don’t get going the heat of the day would be here in no time. So I packed up and was hiking the 2 mile uphill section by 5 am. Today was a big elevation both and and down, I’d go up 4500 feet and I’d lose a whopping 8200 feet today. I’d also hike thru the 2019 Northern Complex burn. I wanted to get to the bridge of the Middle Fork of the Feather River which would get me all the way thru the 15 mile burn section, which meant I needed to do at least 30 miles. So not a lot of time to stop and smell the roses today, I didn’t take my first break until 10am and that was for water at Whiskey Spring, a nice cold water source about 0.2 miles off trail. Gave me time to filter water and get some snacks in before starting back down the trail at 10:30. By noon I came across some hikers that I’d been playing leap frog with the last several days (Starfish, EBay, and Chaperel) and Starfish’s boyfriend had meet them at a paved road crossing and brought all kinds of goodies, they were all willing to share. So I had a banana, a donut, two Gatorade’s, and a Stumptown iced coffee, and packed out a IPA for camp. We then entered the burn area. It’s quite eerie to walk thru a burnt forest. Things are quiet, there’s no wildlife and for me any gust of wind I worry that the charred trees around me may topple over. Also everything gets extremely dirty and covered with ash. At mile 25 for me, there’s Fowler Creek, an ice cold stream in the middle of the burn section.
It had an amazing little tub of a pool that was perfect for one person to submerge in to cool off, we all took turns. Then it was anther 5 miles to camp, but this was a steep section of switchbacks to the bridge. It’s always a little unnerving for me because I’m not a fan of open heights, and the trail here wasn’t a cliff, but a very vertical slope, so I just put my blinders on and pay attention to my footing and the trail. Finally at 6pm I arrived at camp, 30 miles completed. A quick soak in the Feather River to get all the grim off and to drink a semi-lukewarm beer with Flavortown, SoHo and Lost & Found. Then it was dinner and bedtime. Another big day in the books.
No comments:
Post a Comment