Early morning light and warmth got me out of bed earlier than usual. After a sleepy goodbye to Coppertone, we were on the trail again.
For about 5 minutes. Then, we met two men who had set up their trucks so they could give out beer to PCT hikers. The first said all he had was “bad American beer”, and that his friend in the other truck worked for Sierra Nevada in Chico and had much better beer. We had a chat with his friend, and learned that Sierra Pale Ale has about 150 calories, and that Torpedo has about 220, due to its 40% higher mash bill. In a few minutes, we thanked them and moved on.
Above us, the parachutists had returned. Coppertone had said there was a launching area nearby.
The trail gave us more clear panoramas of both Lassen and Shasta, and paths through big dry meadows.
After many miles of this, we wound our way down a hill to a PG&E plant, associated with a lake, associated with a fish hatchery.
Several miles and one hitch more, we were in Burney for resupply, lunch, and laundry. On the whole, the town seemed full of people who really liked hikers. But, it’s hard to recommend, because it’s quite spread out, and several people recommended against us leaving our packs outside stores. (And, there was a hand-made wooden sign in the laundromat that said your unattended clothes were stolen).
Leaving the laundromat, I was a bit slower than Elizabeth. “I’ll be ten seconds!” I said. A woman in the laundromat gave me advice: “You’d better hurry, 10 seconds is a short time,” she said.
“She’s probably timing me,” I said.
“You sure know women,” she said.
We shopped for our resupply in Rite Aid (with our packs on), but it resulted in a grim long-term commitment to Top Ramen, peanut butter, and granola.
A hitch later, and we were back on the trail. Just after the road, there was a spot labeled “Wild Bird Cache”, that was some excellent, well-designed trail magic. It had a table to sign or carve, soda, snacks, water, and a register that required everyone to write a joke.
Moving on from Burney, our next stop was Burney Falls State Park, about 8 miles north. By now it was getting late, so after we had paid for the site, I just did my routine, and didn’t see the park.
I still ended up eating in the dark.
Does the scenery ever get boring? I guess the snakes keep you alert. I see you Town Food!
Well, some of the scenery is more not-boring than others. Northern California has a lot of really similar scenery — rolling hills of conifers. But, the scenery is only part of it. There’s the fresh air, the exercise, the weather, etc.
The orange and white diagonal sign is an underground gas pipeline.
Ah, thanks for the knowledge there. The clear, flat, straight stretch of land by the signs looked like they’d cleared it for a railroad, but never gotten around to building the tracks.