8.60 miles - Total to date - 207.9 miles
Ascent - 3614’’ , Descent - 1101’ - Belden (1284.43) to Camp at Chips Creek Crossing (1284.43)
While hiking with Derek for 3 days my daily distances took a radical positive jump -a 28, and a 26. In my first 10 days of hiking I covered 195 miles for an average of 19.5 miles per day. This is what I hoped for. I know from previous experience that a zero day does wonders to ward off injuries and allow the body to recover from the daily pounding. I decided to zero in Belden. Of course, I did this before I got to Belden and saw the magnitude of the festival. However, my resupply was mailed to Little Haven, about a mile up the road and around enough bends that the music was totally blocked. Unfortunately, they don’t allow zeros. After much thought I resolved to hike in a few miles to a known campsite and swimming hole, lounge away the day and then begin the 5000’ climb out of the valley on Monday morning. So now my zero was a nero-2 Miles of nero.
Brenda drove me to town and dropped me off. The festival was in full motion with music filling the valley. I began the hike out of Belden, the Techno music pounding. It lasted for over a mile down the trail before it finally died out. What a party! I hiked the 2.3 miles into the swimming hole/campsite, set up my tent, went in the water to cool down and retired to my tent and sleeping pad to sleep. This I did successfully - until I got to thinking. “What if I climbed half the hill this afternoon and then the other half in the morning? I have already been over 24 hours without hiking. Isn’t that a zero?” At 3:30 pm I returned to the pool to cool down, swim and fill my dinner pot with water. I cooked Top Ramen I took from the hiker food box at Little Haven, then started up the trail about 4:20 pm. I made it another six miles and 2000’ by 7:30 pm. I was hoping to make it 9 miles, but the trail was steep and I was slower than anticipated. Still, the extra miles will help in the days ahead. You see, from Belden to Lassen National Park is 59 miles. It is 19.5 miles across the park. To stay overnight in the park you must have your food in a bear can or face a fine. I am hoping to get the 59 miles out of the way in the next two days (8.6 already done). This way I can cross the park in a day - I do not have a bear can.
The air was very hazy all day, I assume from the smoke of the fire near Redding. At times it was thick enough to completely obscure the sun, yet I did not detect any smell.
Tonight I am camping with Flash from Hawaii, Pickle from Michigan, Fireball from New York and Sam from Hong Kong. Pickle built a small fire in the fire ring and he and Flash sat around it for a time. I went to bed and asleep.
My room at Little Haven
The house at Little Haven
Looking back at Belden
The trail
No comments:
Post a Comment