Chuck's News: Tuesday, July 31, 2018

18.27 miles - Total to date - 259.7 miles

Ascent - 2692’’ , Descent - 2258’ - Soldier Creek (1325.52) to Border Springs (1343.8)

Considering the distance I traveled yesterday and the shortened distance I had to go today, I let myself sleep in a bit, all the way to 5:15 am. I took a few minutes to wash my socks with soap in my pot before I hung them on my pack and hit the trail. No one camped with me last night. I assume everyone goes the extra three miles and hitches into Chester 8 miles down the road.

I was bothered that I was getting no data on my phone, only voice. As I hiked along I explored my system settings and noticed that cellular data had been shut off. Not sure when that happened, but when I turned it back on, a flood of emails came pouring in. With a data connection again, I uploaded the past five day's blog postings, did some banking chores and generally got caught up. I did this while hiking down the trail.

At this point I did not feel any ill effects from my expanded distance of yesterday. Maybe a little more tired than usual in the morning, but not significantly so.

Once I got to highway 36, I stopped to call the Caldwell’s and check in with them. The temperature was really cool, felt like in the mid 50’s. It felt great after my continual daily sweat-a-thons.

I did not make my daily 10 by 10 due to phone calls, banking chores and other internet activities. This meant the walking started getting hot as the day was progressing.

12 miles in the trail crosses the North Fork of the Feather River. There is a nice bridge over it and a nice beach under the bridge for soaking feet and bathing. Three people were there bathing and I soon joined them. Now my exertions of yesterday were beginning to be felt. I was seriously lacking energy. After a good half hour break under the bridge I shouldered my pack and headed out again. I had a 1000’ climb ahead of me and 5.8 miles to go to the boundary springs. It was a struggle. It was hot. The sun was beating down. I was fatigued.

I pulled into the spring about 3:00 pm, about when I expected to. My feelings of lethargy had not translated into much of a decrease in my speed.

I put up my tent, soaked my feet and put my solar charger on a huge log out in the sun to recharge my iPhone battery. My spare battery had been charging all morning, riding in the pocket of my solar panel that was strapped to the outside of my pack and was full up. The panel bumped my iPhone from 13% to 82% charged while I set up camp and lay down for a rest. While lying on my back, I noticed a massive dead snag standing next to my tent. I decided to move to a new location. I was sure it would not fall tonight, but with lots of places to choose from, why chance it. Just 75 feet away was enough to get me out of the drop zone and into a nice area. At this point fatigue overcame me. I climbed in my tent, blew up my sleeping pad and was out like a light, for at least half an hour, maybe longer. I was still the only person camping here. Again, like last night, I think most people hike an additional four miles to camp in an established car camping campground, Warner Springs, in Lassen NP and go eat at the nearby restaurant at Drakesbad Guest Ranch. There are bear boxes at the campground to get around the need for a bear canister.

I cooked spaghetti for dinner and lounged in my tent for the rest of the evening, until about 6:30 pm when hikers started arriving. I heard familiar voices. Riley, Top Notch and Hercules had arrived. Along with them came Generic, Road Kill and Clover. Everyone gathered in a circle and cooked their dinner with an entertaining and lively discussion. It was a hoot. A great ending to a tiring day!! We broke up at 8:45 pm as it was nearly dark.

I am hoping to recover a bit before tomorrow’s hike. We will see what tomorrow morning brings.