Our seventh day was great; a long and hot hike with great views ending in a town that many consider "halfway" to Canada (it's actually around 30 miles short of halfway). The Cooks joined us for the first four miles of the trip and then, after Spanish Peak, it was just me and Tricia:
The middle several miles of this trip are passed on the northeast edge of a large plateau. Clear areas provide wide vistas. Of Spanish Peak:
Of Highway 70 going through the town of Quincy:
Of the Sierra Buttes, now around 35 miles south of us:
And of Mount Lassen (I'm really looking forward to getting closer to this peak):
We hauled buns to lunch at Clear Creek, 10.1 miles into the day:
This photo, taken at Clear Creek is for our two geology professor friends, John and Roger. What are we looking at by way of this big orange rock guys, and why is it here?
After lunch we continued on easy trails, still flying along.
At this stage of our hike, while walking and dreaming, I started to realize something about my now 13 year old Tricia. She's still a kid in so many ways. But she's not a child any more. And this is true even more so in a hiking/backpacking/camping sense.
Tricia's now 1,300 miles into this trail. She's done killer-hard hikes, she's backpacked days and days at a time (and carried her share of the weight). She's starting to learn the lay of the land, to study maps and to find our way. She's met and seen a large variety of outdoor people (both by way of our hikes and through all the climbing we've done as a family). Tricia helps with every camp chore, from tents to food to getting a campfire going and clean-up.
On this day's hike it really hit me: Tricia is now closer to being my equal in this venture than she is to being my "student" or my "kid." Thirteen years old or not, we make most decisions on the trail now by consensus, or even without discussion. I like it.
This realization led me in turn to think about how incredibly proud I am of her. And then, the next thought was about how much I just like hanging out with her. She's totally fun to spend time with:
We were now about 15 miles into our 20 mile day. The dogs were hot, they were seeking cool in any way they could:
We got our first view of Highway 70 and the river way, way down below:
Open areas led slowly downhill (Mount Lassen disappeared behind the far canyon wall):
We hit the "endless" switchbacks that lead down to Belden town and the river:
While on the switchbacks we got a view of Chips Canyon. This will be our first day's hike on our July trip. It looks hot, hot, hot (the trail is visible on the right wall):
Finally most of the way down the switchbacks we got a view of the Belden Lodge and the town bridge:
After 3,000 feet of descent we hit the flats, crossing double railroad tracks to Belden Town Road:
While I'd expected Belden Town Road to have a town on it, Belden is actually much smaller than that; the PCT path is the town road for half a mile before any of Belden comes into view:
Naturally Vicki was waiting for us at the lodge:
Our first priority was cooling off the dogs; the river was perfect for the purpose:
After cooling off and having a cold drink we needed to finish the day's hike; across town bridge, along the highway, and over to the Eby stamp mill rest stop (where the PCT leaves Belden) and then our 50 extra feet (to insure that we never miss a step):
That wrapped up another fine trip. We made over 92 miles in seven days (it seems like we've made it way into northern California now). We had fun and enjoyed friends.
And now we're done, home and back to normal, waiting until July 18 when we leave for another trip. After that will be August when Katie will join us in passing Lassen and then heading northwest toward Shasta.