July 6-Sunday-Ice Cream and a Rave
Ice cream cravings were intense. After a wonderful last breakfast at the Williams trail angel abode I headed five miles up the trail to Bucks Summit, the major road crossing between Bucks Lake and Quincy. As I got to the summit two women, Terry and Darci, walked my direction. They were done with a little hike and were headed to Quincy. I yogied a ride, and then found out they were coming back after running some errands, perfect for my needs.
They gave me a chunk of their sleeping pad to put inside my hip belt. The hip belt is at the end now as I have lost so much weight. I can't tighten it any more. The little pad inside solved that problem.
Good WI-Fi reception allowed me to take care of posting my last blog, then buy the ice cream I had been craving. Not much time was wasted on the quick side trip to Quincy.
Back on the trail Papa Bear showed back up. A trail register was right where we met so we could ascertain who was ahead of us. It had been quite a while since the last trail register.
Beldontown Resort
Because of the diversion to Quincy I had to hike into the evening by headlight to get to Beldentown, arriving in the dark, at about 10:00, a 24 mile day.
Beldentown Resort was cleaning up after a three day rave party. The stragglers and clean-up folks were quite unique. My perception was the demographic hanging around after a three day rave appears to be quite tired and unhappy. I have now seen enough of a rave to suit me. Apparently Bigfoot and Structure will be scarred for life with some of what they saw as they went through the activities in progress :). By being seven hours late I missed out on quite a bit. Other hikers joined in the festivities. I found a good camping spot on the outskirts of Beldentown Resort (flat and no poison oak) which was all that really mattered.
June 7-Monday-Twelve Mile Uphill out of Belden.
I was shocked Monday morning at 5:00 a.m. when I got up there was movement just a little ways from me. Two other thru-hikers from Sierra City, Landslide and Handbreak, had camped right next to me and were leaving the craziness early too!
This is Belden's restaurant and store.
Instead I cooked my traditional four packages of oatmeal, found an outside plug to charge my phone, and filled water bottles. As I was hiking down the road toward the trail I found the trail angels' home, the Brauxton's. In addition to other hikers I didn't know, Mr. Cup, Structure, and Bigfoot were there. It was a bunch of old guys. They were all zeroing for the day. I decided to stick around for a while and nap. When everyone went in to have breakfast I also went in for my second breakfast.
On the hike up out of Beldon the river, Hwy 70, and the trains are evident for quite a while.
Papa Bear joined me as I headed up at 6:00 p.m.. We had picked out a campsite for the night when I realized the area had food left around, a mess, and a bear had ransacked it and made the mess much worse. We decided it wouldn't be wise to camp there and continued in in the dark.
Immediately I came across a rattlesnake in the trail.
The trail was quite a climb out of the North Feather River canyon. When it reached the Lassen National Forest it was in the portion of the trail that a friend of mine, Tom Charlton, had located many years ago! Tom retired from the Forest Service about nine years ago. Early in his Forest Service career he was tasked with locating the best location for the PCT through the Lassen NF and flagging it so crews could build it. It's quite a legacy for Tom to have been involved in the PCT in its early stages.
I tried keeping up with a young, fast hiker for a while. When we stopped he had breakfast, simply eating dry instant oatmeal from the package and drinking lots of water. It's much faster than cooking the oatmeal, and you still get the same calories. I tried this expeditious way if eating. It was horrible and that won't be done again.
This was familiar country for me as I had worked on the Almanor Ranger District of the Lassen in 2004-2006. I came across part of the Creeks project I had been a part of, the marked tree on left.
The hiking was especially good in this area as a trail crew had obviously just been through clearing recently fallen trees.
July 9-Wednesday-Halfway
I wanted an early start, but ended up with an earlier start than anticipated. When I looked at my watch as I awoke I thought it showed 4:40, just about perfect. I got up, cooked breakfast, and packed up. When I started hiking I checked my watch again, this time it showed 4:30. I obviously misread it at first glance. Hiking at sunrise is great, an hour before sunrise just uses batteries.
The halfway point on the PCT!!! An exciting milestone.
I was thrilled to see this note from Princess and Mr. Sandals that the were going to be zeroing in Chester for Princess' birthday.
For dinner eight thru-hikers, Tom, and Steve Aria (he drove up from Red Bluff) and I joined Princess to celebrate her birthday. It was fun to introduce my eclectic hiker friends to two of my great long time friends from off the trail.
