It rained all night, we got up at 6 because we had only 9.5 miles to hike to Old Station. The sky was grey and clouds were hanging low on the mountains when we started hiking. Immediately our shoes, socks and lower pant legs were soaked from the grasses along the trail. Although it was wet out, the air was clear and every color appeared brighter.
The trail is a slow descent all the way to Old Station. We passed through timber planted in rows and some harvested lumber in a big pile. We passed by Hat Creek bubbling down to the valley.
First the trail wound through pine trees and manzanita brush,
then pine trees and sage brush, then we crossed over multiple dirt roads as we got closer to town. I checked my GPS to see exactly where we were and had a message from Robin that he was at the PCT where it crosses the Hwy. There are two places named Old Station and we directed him to the Old Station Post Office where the trail comes close to a Motel, Cafe and Post Office. He was walking toward us as we came out of the woods and into the lodging area.
When we went into the Post Office for our resupply boxes Peggy had surprises waiting there for her, a birthday card from her niece, goodies mailed from her New York Brokerage Firm (how fun is that!) and a box of delicious cookies from Linda, her stepmom. We both carried cookies in our packs when we exited Old Station the next day. (The chocolate marshmallow ones were a big hit!)
Robin had his BBQ in the back of his pickup to grill hotdogs and brats, he had sodas, apples & bananas, cupcakes & cookies. These were for trail magic when hikers walked in.
A guy named Root Beer Float walked in, we'd never met him before. He said he'd missed trail magic at every stop and this was his first one!
He got 5 grilled dogs, an apple, a banana, 2 cupcakes, a bag of cookies and I gave him some power bars I couldn't fit into my bag. His resupply box hadn't made it in the mail to Chester so he'd come to Old Station on low rations. It was actually pretty fun to see him eat so much and get full. Two others came in and had the works too. Later as we were getting our Motel room Alpaca & Yukon arrived and got a room. Robin gave them fruit and soda as that was about all he had left. I later shared with Alpaca & Yukon salmon, cream cheese, avocado and fruit that I knew Peggy & I couldn't finish. All the provisions were eaten and enjoyed. Thank you Robin!
When we were settled into our rooms Robin drove back to Medford, he'll be in Burney Falls Park in 3 days to meet us there & take me home for a rest.
The remainder of our day consisted of showers, laundry, resupplying our packs, drying our wet tents and resting.
We will only take a nero today, we plan on leaving tomorrow after we get an idea of the weather. We're hoping it remains somewhat overcast because Hat Creek Rim is notoriously hot and has 33 waterless miles. We'd catch a break if it were cooler and we didn't have to take as much water along.
6/27/14 Friday
13.75 miles
Someone's car alarm went off outside our room at 5:30 this morning. Our alarm went off at 7. We had bagels, avocado, cream cheese & smoked salmon for breakfast, a Dr Pepper and fruit. A few chores and we got out on the trail at 8:30. It was not overcast but there were puffy clouds in the sky that could offer shade so we each took 4 L of water instead of 5, hoping for cloud cover to help us.
When we got there we hid our packs off the trail, took our headlamps, our down jackets for the cold and a L of water. I took my lunch items because they were not in my lock scent bag and an animal might have torn my pack looking for the food. The cave was 1/4 mile down a side trail. There were lots of cars parked at the parking area and we saw GuacRock coming out. He said he'd enjoyed the cave so we headed in.
Stairway in & out.
We spent about an hour inside, topped off our water at a spigot outside where I scared away a quail getting a drink. We had a snack and went to find the PCT and our packs again.
Although it's getting warm out I'm glad we did the side trip and saw something new and interesting. This whole area was formed by volcanic activity and is really interesting to poke around in.
We began climbing out of the valley up to the rim which we can see in the distance.
The trail leads up to a lookout spot that people can drive to. There's a restroom and information boards along with viewers that allow a closer look at the landscape... But no water.
We met a gentleman from Talent, Oregon who gave us each a banana and wanted to talk about our hike. He lives 6 miles from Medford, where I live, we encouraged him to hike more of the trail around there & to try out lightweight equipment.
We really needed to rest, Peggy's back was hurting and she did some work with her sit pad and duct tape that helped her pack fit better. We both are losing some weight so our packs fit differently, I've engineered a fix with an extra sock as padding at my waist belt. I hope Peggy can find a fix that will help her too.
The wind is blowing quite a bit which helps keep us a little cooler but it is getting warmer. We are climbing up to a long series of lava rock ridges that tower hundreds of feet over the valley. It seems to take forever to get anywhere and we curve back along our trail to get around sharp cuts in the rock. We alternate between walking on lava and walking on dirt with dry grasses and pine needles. There are smaller trees after the fire that burned here in 2009, started by something like 800 lightening strikes. It was a devastating fire and we can see the effort made by the community to replant trees. Finally we arrive at a dirt road which gives us a bit of flat land to pitch our tents. We're tired and ready for a rest. Peggy stretches her back and rests without her pack for awhile. After dinner and getting set up, I am resting without the vestibule of the tent on so the breeze can cool me off. I think it will be warm enough tonight to sleep without it and see the night sky.
Peggy took amazing photos of the sunset, black shadows and orange, pink and red colors in the clouds.
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