6/28/14 Saturday. Young Grasshopper's Rattlesnake & Water Caches. 6/29/14 Sunday. Creation of a Waterfall.

20.5 miles

Packs strapped on,  we stepped onto the trail again at 6:15.  The trail is sometimes right on the edge of the rim, you can look over and see way down to the valley floor.

Looking back at the Rim. 

We walked along all of these rims on the left.  The valley floor has fallen away from the rims over time, that is Mt Lassen peak far to the right. 

No clouds are in the sky, it's going to be hot today.  There is a lookout of sorts that sports antennae equipment that we decided to stop at.  Peggy worked with her pack to get a better fit and as we stopped to rest we noticed there were 2 large,  full water jugs labeled PCT hiker water.  We drank some of our water we'd been rationing and filled up a liter.  Young Grasshopper walked in and got water too.  She's a young solo hiker from Ashland, Or and knows Summit and Zebra who we met at Warner Campground in Lassen Park. She seemed very competent and we enjoyed talking to her for a short time then she was back on the trail.  Donning our packs again, we'd only gone a short way when I saw a paper note in the trail with a rock on it.  "Rattlesnake on the trail, 15 ft ahead."  signed Young Grasshopper.   Cautiously we approached but thankfully never heard or saw the snake.  We left the note to warn others. Young Grasshopper had mentioned that the cache at Road 22 was recently stocked, we're all glad because the day was getting warmer by the minute.

At 7am  Peggy & I decided to deploy the umbrellas.

After another couple of hours and we arrived at Road 22 cache, a jumble of branches woven together around a Ponderosa Pine tree created a shadowy cave.  Inside were 3 chairs, a cooler,a trail register book and stacks of full gallon water jugs. There is also a resident squirrel that creeps around in the debris waiting for some snack to fall to the ground.  He has a sweet deal going because all the hikers take a seat, eat and talk, most carry trail mix so this squirrel will be well fed. 

Young Grasshopper getting ready to leave the water cache at Rd 22.

We finally found a blooming Cascade Lily up on the rim. All that we'd seen so far had yet to bloom. This blossoms' fragrance was just like an Easter lily, rich and heady. 

 Dry grasses edge the rim as we began the descent off the rim to the valley floor below, we know we'll be crossing lava beds. It will be hot down there and hard on the feet walking on the rough, sharp lava rocks.

Dirt mixed with rock make up the trail but sometimes it crosses over the black lava. Heat rises off the black rock so I feel like I'm self basting! 

We managed to find a big juniper tree with enough shade so we could both lie down to rest & have some lunch.  The extra water from the caches has been a blessing, we could now drink a liter there at the cache and carry enough to get us to the next source.  

Our strategy to get us through the next miles is to walk an hour and take off our packs to rest, drink, eat and stretch out to relieve back pain. While resting we met Rags who stayed at the trail angel's house with us in Big Bear City (it seems so long ago).  We also met Alpaca who left Old Station behind us and is passing us again on her way to Burney Falls.

We followed our hike/rest strategy for 3 hours and ended up walking across dry grassy fields and into oak/pine forest. After about 7 miles we stopped again just as we saw water through the trees.  

Hopefully this was Baum Lake, water and our destination for the day. 

As we came closer to the lake the trail crossed by a big pipe carrying spring water to the visitor's center at the lake.  The pipe had a leak that sprayed water into the air. We looked at each other and weighed taking off our packs, climbing onto the pipe (it wasn't so big we couldn't have done it) and standing in the spray (like running in the sprinkler when we were kids!).  We found out later that Young Grasshopper did just that! 

Our trail crossed over a tiny,  clear creek so instead of going to the Visitor's Center and filling up in their bathroom we decided to filter good water right there. While getting water, Bigfoot and Plant walked up and got water too.  They went to the Visitor's Center to rest while we went to find our camp spot. 

We crossed over an arm of the lake and talked to some fishermen who were fishing for trout. Following the lake shore on the PCT,  we found a nice spot under a big Ponderosa tree where we could camp.  The mosquitoes were out so our head nets were on as we pitched tents and prepared for dinner.  Canadian Geese, ducks, Osprey, all kinds of waterfowl were talking and making noise.  It was great to watch as an Osprey fished for his own dinner and it was warm enough to camp without the fly over my tent.   I could see the stars stretched out in the sky as night fell. 

This was a bigger mile day than we usually want to do but we needed to get off the Rim and to water. Peggy really pushed through the heat and miles in spite of her back hurting.  Where's that Sherpa when you need one?

6/29/14 Sunday

11 miles

If the alarm hadn't gone off at 5am the birds would have done a fine job of waking me anyway.  The  crows were squawking at each other while flying a pattern over our tents this morning, then there were the geese...

Back on the trail at 6:10 we climbed away from the lake in a pine/oak forest, lots of oak leaves underfoot and where there's oak usually there's poison oak so we were watchful.

Morning light over Baum Lake.

We have 11 miles to Burney Falls Park where Robin will meet us. 

The dirt roads we begin to cross are all very red cinder rock crushed by tires and powdered along the road edges.  That powder rises up with each foot fall and coats our legs up to our knees.  All our careful tending last night, the washing of our feet and legs with lake water, goes out the window. Sigh.

Red colored roads. 

We'd heard that ahead was an awesome trail cache set up by a local trail angel. We came into the Wild Bird Cache after a couple of hours hiking this morning. 

Morning light makes it difficult to get a good photo on my iPhone but here's the layout. 

Left is a cupboard full of quick hiker food. It latches closed to keep varmints out. The cooler below contains sodas and cold water. To the right a covered picnic table that we're instructed to sign with permanent markers. He'll use the lumber to make a bar when he opens his business soon. A book on the table for hikers to register; name, place of residence and a joke. A camera for each hikers' selfie picture. There are two loungers and a cooler that had beer in it. 

Bigfoot is at the cooler, Peggy is in a lounger way in the background, drinking a grape soda. 

The cupboard contained  tuna, Vienna sausages, packaged noodle and rice mixes, hot sauce, spices, oil, creamer, granola bars etc...

They had a cooking station and frying pans so you could actually cook your food.  Shovels & picks for fire suppression should anything get out of hand. First aid stuff and fire extinguishers.  Then around the corner was this...

A solar shower, 4 water bladders warming in the sun, a mirror, towels, soap and TP!  Well... What more could anyone ask for? Why stop in town at all? 

It was a huge surprise and we sat in the loungers and had a soda, wrote in their book then left after about 1/2 hour. Our own trail magic awaited us!

Across this dry meadow was a wall of black lava. 

We still had about 5 miles to go but now we began to hear traffic and see day hikers.  We met 3 day hikers, two women and one man, the man stopped us to ask about our hike.  He looked at us funny and I thought he looked familiar too.  He asked if we had hiked Washington last year?  We said "yes" and then he had it... He'd hiked a section from Steven's Pass to Stehekin with a friend & Peggy and I had spent 5 days leapfrogging with them along the trail.  We never knew their names we just kept passing and being passed by those two older gentlemen. He was thrilled to see us & know we were doing a large part of California. What a small world!

We arrived in Burney Falls State Park and looked for an alternate trail that would take us past the headwaters of the falls. It was .07 miles to the campground store so we decided to see something unusual and take the alternate route. 

First there's just a dry boulder creek bed, 

then this grey, muddy pool that is the headwaters of the falls. 

Then we passed a trickling stream, it got wider and wider, flowing with clear cool water. Then it was a regular stream with small rapids and faster water. We came to fencing and lots of people on paved walkways.  Then we saw the falls but it was obscured by trees.  We decided to wait to walk down the paths to view the falls. Robin would enjoy going with us too. 

 Robin had his picnic tables all set up and was serving food to Bigfoot and Young Grasshopper when we arrived.  BBQ dogs, cold sodas, donuts, water for trail magic.  He had BBQ ribs, potato salad, 3 bean salad, coleslaw, cantaloupe and sodas for Peggy & I.  Plant hiked in later as well as Rags, they also stayed to eat and talk.  Peggy & I went to the store to pick up our resupply boxes and then we started packing up to go. 

Wait, we need to walk to the Falls! 

The water fell into this pool through a myriad of holes in the porous volcanic rock. It created beautiful sheets of water along the cliff wall. 

It was cool and misty by the water but finally we climbed back up to the parking lot and started driving to the town of Burney.  Peggy will be staying there for a zero (maybe 2 because the  day after is supposed to be in the triple digits) and Robin will take me home for R & R.  As we pulled out of the park we picked up Caboose hitchhiking into Burney.  He teaches high school in Arroyo Grande very near where Peggy works. 

Peggy got a Motel room, had access to a computer, a sporting goods store nearby, restaurant/grocery store too.  She decided to work on padding her back pack if I would order her a new size small hip belt.  I'll bring it to her when we meet at Hwy 3, Scott Mt Summit road on July 11th.  I have hiked the next two sections from Burney Falls to Castella and from Castella to Hwy 3 before.  She is continuing her goal to walk California in one continuous walk.  I hope to gain some weight and try to get stronger so I can continue the hike with her.  

Meanwhile, my friend, Colleen, had planned on meeting us to hike a few days from Hwy 3 to Etna so I'll join her to meet up with Peggy.  Plans change but we're still trying to conquer California before it conquers us! 

I'll resume posting our hiking adventures when we arrive in Etna around July 15 or 16.

Meanwhile,   hike strong and safe,  Peggy, take pictures and smell all the flowers and a few Ponderosa Pines for me!  I'll see you soon.