On the Trail Again; Our Days on the PCT in August, 2015

[Brad Young]

We had fun at a wedding in Eureka before heading east, through Redding to the trail. Vicki, Tricia and I spent Sunday night at tiny Mud Lake Campground at the south end of Hat Creek Rim (where we'd spent the last three nights of our last trip).

Vicki would pick up Katie in Redding late on Monday afternoon, so Tricia and I used part of Monday to almost finish this rim, starting right where we finished off last time:







We got moving quickly and started right into nice views (here's most of the Hat Creek Rim looking back south/toward Lassen Peak):




Although we should have been able to see Mount Shasta quite well, smokey conditions made the great mountain invisible:




We met Vic at Forest Road 22 (a good gravel road parallels the PCT about half a mile to its east along most of this rim; Road 22 crosses the road and the trail, and so meeting us was easy):




Easy, open and warm hiking continued from there:




Our dogs join us on these hikes and we let them run free. Normally they stay pretty close to us. But this particular afternoon they ran ahead at one point. By the time I missed them, it was too late; we came around a corner to see them in this (yuk!):







Although they loved the "water," we were less than impressed (we had to laugh though - we love these darn girls so much that there was nothing else we could do):




Soon we were done hiking for the day. Vicki dropped us off in camp to spend the afternoon while she went to pick up Katie. They arrived back in the evening. We spent time catching up, eating, and visiting with through-hikers (the last of the season were coming through next to our camp). We laughed a bit (a lost roll of paper towels was worth a few laughs in itself):













And then we went to bed, looking forward to tomorrow, the end of the Hat Creek Rim, and a day with three of us on the trail again.

[Brad Young]

We had the clearest skies of our trip on Tuesday (which meant that Katie got to see the view from the rim, including getting a good view of Shasta). And we finished the Hat Creek Rim, passed mile 1,400, and started across the flats toward Burney Falls on this day too. Finally, today we had a dog "incident" that left us laughing, crying and wondering how, how, our pets can be so crazy at times.

Of course we started the day where we'd finished the last:










A short walk led us back to the rim:










And then, in two miles, we finally started dropping down off the rim:







It started getting hot in the flats. We had some shade, and we definitely had some views:










We passed yet another "hundred mile" marker (third one this summer!):







After ten miles of hiking we closed in on two small reservoirs (and a small town a mile away, a power plant, and a trout hatchery; all the trappings of civilization and near-civilization):




And then, just as we neared actual water, we crossed a seep that created a flow of mud across the trail. Hallie, our younger dog  just dropped. It was hot, but it wasn't all that bad. It was dry, but we'd given the dogs plenty of drinking water. But Hallie must have had enough - she was hot and she wasn't going to take it any more ("Hurricane Hallie" is one of her nicknames):













Unfortunately, once a dog gets "wet" that dog shakes off (we should have known better than to stand and watch). Katie got the worst of this and I got a good load of mud too. Tricia was behind. But only she thought to take a photo:




Fortunately we were coming up on Hat Creek. And it was deep. And dogs, even brown dogs that were previously red, are fairly "rinsable:"







We continued now, actually between two reservoirs, closing in on Highway 299 and the end of the hike:







We were surprised to see pelicans here:




We came across a water cache (fresh and icy water):




Tricia took some time here, looking over the register (she's gotten to know the "trail names" of many of this years through-hikers - hell, we've actually met many of them too -  and she likes to see who's gone past already). She also signed us in:




And then shortly we saw the road, our truck, and our own trail angel waiting on the Highway (who, come to think of it, has gotten to know even more through-hikers than us):







It was short drive from there to McArthur/Burney Falls State Park where Vicki had us set up in a campsite (we'd hike to and then through the park in the next two days).

[JC w KC redux]

Although they are the furthest things from mutts and given your proximity to volcanics...
 - I think the red dogs have now earned the moniker

Muttsters of Mud

[mungeclimber]

Fresh icy water? That must have been good!

[mynameismud]

Muttsters of Mud

nice

[Brad Young]

On day three we moved quickly to Burney State Park and Britton Reservoir. What easy hiking:










This hike was about as level as PCT hiking can get. Tricia found one higher spot on the trail from which to take a good representative picture:




The trail crosses Burney Creek only about a mile upstream from Burney Falls itself. And the creek here - one mile above the falls - is bone dry:










Here's Burney Falls (photo taken the same day!). We later walked from the bone dry PCT bridge area to the falls, along the creek; all of this water emerges from the ground as a creek slowly over the course of less than a mile (from tiny puddles to some water to a little water flowing to a full on flow). It's amazing:




We ran into one "problem" today though. Once we approached Britton Dam we faced a narrow section of trail onto the dam itself and we didn't have hard hats. We snuck past anyway (and note in the second photo a through-hiker - "One Step" - he'd been hiking with us for a while this day):










And then we wrapped it up for the day at a dirt road north of the dam (returning to camp for that evening):

[Brad Young]

Although they are the furthest things from mutts and given your proximity to volcanics...
 - I think the red dogs have now earned the moniker

Muttsters of Mud

Yeah, I like that. Although we called them a few other things too. "Nut Mutts" is one of the nicer names we used. And I still like Tricia's invention "Hurricane Hallie."

[mungeclimber]

That water fall looks great. Tempting to take a swim in!

[Brad Young]

That water fall looks great. Tempting to take a swim in!

They say that the water in the falls stays at 47 degrees year round, so it'd be a bit chilly for a dip - but it falls to a deep and admittedly inviting looking pool. Even just hiking from the rim down to the base of the falls made a 15 degree difference in the air temperatures.

[Brad Young]

We only had four days to spend this trip. Between Vicki's family's wedding in Eureka, Katie's job in Santa Barbara, and Tricia having to be at a Girl Scout backpacking camp, we were only on the trail from Monday through Thursday.

Thursday we started north from Britton Lake, approaching Mount Shasta (we'll traverse almost due west to I-5 and Castle Crags now, skirting about 15 miles south of Shasta):




We were back in mostly forest this day, with the occasional vista (especially down to the Pit River):










Vicki's drive out to our end point intersected the PCT near Rock Creek. So she hiked out to meet us there:










We continued to the car, had lunch, and then pressed on (for the rest of the day in deep forest):










Conditions this afternoon were unfortunate too. Fires, especially a big one north of Clear Lake, resulted in very smokey skies. This was slightly irritating to the eyes and throat; it also meant that any views we might have had were just blurry when we saw them:




And that brought this trip to an end. Katie is back in Santa Barbara now, Tricia is at the Girl Scout backpacking camp "Two Sentinels" (they put her in an advanced group, the "Rovers," even though she's never been there before).

It might be it too for this year's PCT hiking. We'll see. Tricia's got school starting in two weeks, and so long trips certainly won't be possible. But the terrain we'll be in for the next 70 trail miles varies in elevation from only 3,500 feet to a little over 5,000 feet. It's also not all that far from paved highways. So we could conceivably do a three day trip there in October (and we've talked with our friends the Dawsons about doing just that). We'll cross that bridge in the next several weeks.

Meanwhile, I really ought to resume my climbing career. I haven't climbed that much this summer (yet - there's plenty left), and I think some of my climbing partners might be thinking of me as an "ex" climber by now (Roger, Joel and Brian?).

But more PCT this year or not, we're pretty darn happy. We've done over 270 miles of trail in 2015, averaging about 13 miles per day. The line on our living room map of the PCT is way, way farther north than it was just a few months ago:







And we've had a lot of fun.

[mynameismud]

The falls are cool.

In that one photo you have one daughter heading for Mexico, one daughter heading for Canada and a Mom waiting.

[Brad Young]

In that one photo you have one daughter heading for Mexico, one daughter heading for Canada and a Mom waiting.

Holy crap - I hadn't noticed that in that way. But as soon as I read your post I knew which photo you were talking about (I showed the picture and your post to Vicki, who laughed out loud and claimed that you're pretty observant for an old guy).

Tricia was actually heading back to the bridge to watch the nut-mutts.

[Tuff Chik]

Thanks for sharing.  Looks like another fun trip.  Wish we could join you guys in October but I can't take off work then.  However, I am hoping to take several long weekends in Sept.  May have to head up to the pass.

[waldo]

Great report, Brad. My boys loved Burney Falls when we visited the place 25 years ago. That midnight blue pool is tempting!

[clink]

When are you projecting to leave California? Yer gett'n close to Oregon and it looks like you hike through Castle Crags. I always wanted to stop and check the area out. We did stop once and hiked Black Butte with our Kate when she was an infant.

[Brad Young]

When are you projecting to leave California? Yer gett'n close to Oregon and it looks like you hike through Castle Crags. I always wanted to stop and check the area out. We did stop once and hiked Black Butte with our Kate when she was an infant.

Clink,

We're still 270 more miles from the California/Oregon border (calculated to within one mile)! My rough guess is that we'll make it to Ashland, Oregon by the end of the summer of 2016.

[Brad Young]

Vicki got a call yesterday from a set of south-bound through-hikers that we met up on Hat Creek Rim in July. As always she gave them her number and invited them to contact us from Sonora Pass if they wanted a home cooked meal and a night off the trail. They did and they did, so they hitch-hiked down last evening. Nice guys too - twin brothers from Australia and a young man from Santa Barbara.

We see very few south bound through-hikers.

Vicki just left with them; she's driving them back up to the pass this morning (and I'm actually jealous - they're about to hike one of the very prettiest part of the whole PCT).

[Brad Young]

Wow, talk about iron determination and calm acceptance.

We picked up a PCT through-hiker at Sonora Pass last evening. We bought him dinner at Kennedy Meadows and then brought him home for a shower, a bed, computer access and extra batteries (plus dessert of pie, ice cream, cookies, and a beer). Vicki's driving him back up to the pass now.

Yep, a though-hiker, at Sonora Pass, in September (it's 1,018 miles from Mexico - a lot less than halfway). He started on the last day of March. More than five full months on the trail.

He's clearly way, way, way behind "the pack" of through-hikers, some of whom are starting now to reach Canada. And he's clearly gonna have to leave the trail much before he reaches Canada.

But none of that bothers him at all. He seems to have been making his way as best he can. He calmly told us that he's really slow and that he seems to be getting slower. And yet he seems to be thoroughly enjoying the trail; he'll be going at least to Tahoe and then re-evaluating.

I'm sitting here really admiring his determination and his attitude.

[JC w KC redux]

Wow, talk about iron determination and calm acceptance.
I'm sitting here really admiring his determination and his attitude.

Cool post. I don't think either of these qualities will ever become part of my repertoire

[Brad Young]

Cool post. I don't think either of these qualities will ever become part of my repertoire

Hah! Ridiculous post. Maybe you don't show much calm acceptance, but you often show iron determination. No question about that one.