Day 88-91: Hot NoCal

Date: August 1-August 4
Day 88-91
Mile 1381.6 to 1481.5
Subway cave to canyon near McCloud river

Day 88-Return of the Mojave

Today we woke up somewhat early to try and hike the whole Hat Creek Rim. The rim is famous for being notoriously hot with no water for 30 miles except for a cache. Fortunately there is a cache in the middle of the section that is well stocked and reliable. We began the accent from subway cave to the rim and within a few miles had amazing views of the distant Mt.Shasta and Mt.Lassen.




It got hot really quick and unfortunately once your hiking on the Rim there is little shade or relief from the sun. We got to the cache at forest road 22, often called cache 22. There was water, shade, and several hikers from team awkward. At the cache we sat out the heat of the day and took a little nap. It is weird having to sit out the middle of the day due to heat since we haven't had to do that for a long time. We hiked on and dropped down off the hat creek rim into the valley below. It was a long hot day and we fell asleep almost instantly after we got to camp. The terrain from here to Oregon is fairly easy therefore we have been hiking from sun up to sun down. This is allowing us to do big miles day to day. As long as our bodies hold up this should be no problem.

Day 89-Burney Falls

Today was a late start, almost 9 am before we were walking. This was one of the hottest days yet. It was very exposed, hot and dry walking to Burney Falls. We passed Crystal lake state fish hatchery and saw lots of vacationers fishing in the area. Although it was hot the miles into Burney Falls State Park flew by.




We stopped and saw the falls And went to the store to get some food and get our package.




There were several dozen hikers at the store, some we have never seen yet. We sat at the store eating a lot and took a shower while there too. We hiked out of Burney falls and crossed over the lake britton dam.




There were some yummy berries we ate along the trail that night before we stopped to camp. There was quite a bit of bear scat in the area and we were surprised to not see a bear. It was a great day and we are excited to get in to Mt.Shasta to see Jenna's family.

Day 90-Shasta-trinity forest

Todays walk was through Shasta- Trinity National Forest.




We have actually been in this forest since near Burney but there were no signs informing us. This forest will persist until we get a ways from the town of Mt. Shasta. As we walked we noticed that lots of logging had been occurring in this area. It was a pretty hike through the forest all day with very few views of anything. That is one thing we have noticed about northern California. Views are becoming more rare due to tree cover and as a result we are taking fewer photos. At our ending camp spot there were carpenter ants everywhere that got into our packs and any tiny place they could crawl. It was a fun night despite the swarm of ants.

Day 91-Helter Swelter

Unlike yesterday we got to walk on some ridges with great views of mt. Shasta.




It got really hot today an being in the forest added to to the heat with some humidity. These last few days have been some of the hottest I remember.




We ate lunch by a river and dinner at the McCloud river which let us cool down a bit. The water at McCloud was too swift and icy cold so we didn't swim but rather rinsed off while cooking dinner. We ended up getting in near 29 miles today.




It was a great day and we are ecstatic to see Jenna's family tomorrow.

-Natey