September 4

Distance: 27.1 miles | Ascent: 2290′ | Descent: 4300′

Mile marker: 1244.5

Lunch: J&A – cereal (A+)

Dinner: J – spaghetti (B), A – mac n cheese ()

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We woke before dawn and smelled a whiff of smoke in the air. There were thunderstorms last night a bit north of us. We hurriedly packed up and got on the trail to make sure there wasn’t going to be an SOS situation. (We later learned that this was probably a small quarter-acre vegetation fire near some active logging activity that was put out almost immediately).

We got our last looks at Mount Shasta before the trail turned south. For the last few weeks, we’ve been circling this mountain from the north, west, and south. The trail even had us walking due north for a little while. We’ll still see Mount Shasta for a few days, but it’ll finally get smaller on the horizon. The view of sunrise on the mountain was incredible.

Today was hot, and we spent most of the morning passing through managed lands. Just an hour or two into the day, the sound of low-flying helicopters began interrupting the usual background buzz of bugs and lizards skittering through dry leaves. The helicopters seemed to be flying a consistent route on repeat every 20 minutes or so. Our first thought was fire monitoring, but when we finally got a good view of them several hours later, we were relieved to see they were transporting poles. Old telephone poles, cut wires trailing behind. Probably removing an abandoned (or burnt?) telephone line. Is that safe? What would happen if a pole, potentially damaged by fire, snapped in half during transport? They probably know what they’re doing. We just have a lot of time on our hands to wonder these things.

When we finally emerged from the forest near Rock Creek, we were able to cool off and have a quick lunch in the cascading water.

The trail grew a bit easier as we approached Lake Britton. We exited the forest onto a road crossing a dam and hydroelectric plant. The engineers in us were most entertained!

Burny Falls were close to the dam, and we learned from an informational sign that they are fed by snowmelt that melts into the ground and emerges as a powerful spring. Before we even saw the falls, we ran into a family of huge pileated woodpeckers! There were at least four chasing each other and flying from tree to tree.

We stopped by the falls overlook and rested on a bench in the park. We didn’t feel the urge to complete the 1.2 mile loop to go down to the basin since we still had more on our actual trail to get to the ranch. It was nice to sit and get water from the spigot that didn’t need filtering.

There was also a deer casually cruising in the river upstream of the falls. And a rattlesnake in the dry leaves along the trail!

The rest of the day was flat, but we were tired from the heat and the fast pace. We were determined to make it, however, and didn’t stop again until we got to the ranch.

When we finally reached the road to the ranch, a car met us halfway. It was the owner who was leaving, but called the other person in charge to let us know we were coming. We got a quick tour, said hi to the other hikers who beat us there (we had previously met all but one our two on trail in recent weeks), but quickly tucked into the cabin for the night. This wasn’t a long stretch, but the heat and distances were taking a toll. Some rest will do us good, we hope.