September 5

Distance: 14.3 miles | Ascent: 1680′ | Descent: 820′

Mile marker: 1258.9

Lunch: J&A – canned tamales and chili found in hiker box (B)

Dinner: J&A – spaghetti (A-, A)

---

Checkout time at the ranch was 11am and we enjoyed every second we had. We slept in (relatively), lounged in the bed, got more showers, and generally enjoyed the slower morning.

After finally packing back up, we felt rested and rejuvenated. It’s amazing how quickly we can feel ready to go again.

We left our room but hung around at the ranch for a few more hours. The place is very hiker-friendly and has various hang-out areas set up for hikers to relax during the day. They even thought to add a mirror outside! We go days without seeing ourselves on trail.

We still had our resupply to sort and some chores to complete with the limited but reliable(ish) cell service. We found some canned tamales and a can of chili in the hiker box and ate a gloriously salty and fatty lunch. We then laid on some hammocks while finishing our internet chores. Just as we set out, we grabbed two sodas for the road, and the kitchen staff let us fill a water bottle with some ice water.

We have three days to Chester, but the post office will be closed on Sunday. We instead opted to move back our pacing half a day (hence our prolonged morning at the ranch) to get there mid-day Monday. This meant we only had to go about 13 miles today.

The trail was generally cruisey. We started with some decent tree cover before stumbling around Baum Lake which had lots of bird diversity: ospreys and pelicans and geese and ducks and woodpeckers and probably more than we could spot as we walked along. The end of lake house and hydroelectric power station, a fish hatchery, and recreation space for ourselves and local fisherpersons. It was a beautiful harmony of infrastructure, aquaculture, and recreation.

As we trodded along, we climbed a bit out of the lake valley. There was some lava rock covering the trail as we went, but nothing as severe as we had seen further uptrail. As we get close to Lassen National Park, we’re sure to get more lava rock. Jason’s shoes are looking a bit beat up from tripping over the rocks. Hopefully, they hang in there.

The trail grew more exposed. We entered into a forest of sugar pines that have fat and heavy pinecones and that might cause some damage if they fell on us.

A water cache was planted near a roadway. We had just filled up at the lake a few miles back, but it’s good to know that some people are so generous to go out of their way managing something like this.

We climbed up off our plateau and onto the overlooking ridge. As we entered golden hour, we had breathtaking views of the valley below and silhouettes of Mount Shasta and now Mount Lassen.

We reached our campsite near dusk. The days are getting noticeably shorter (we also started at 2 pm, so we can really only blame ourselves for the later arrival). Not far away from us, at the edge of a cow pond was a skunk! Not wanting to startle it and get sprayed, we talked and sang to let him know of our presence. The skunk moseyed around the pond, not seeming to notice or care about us. Eventually, the skunk ran off and into some bushes. Jason saw it, or another one, a bit later, but we avoided getting into any trouble with it – at least for tonight. (We later learned that skunks have a good sense of hearing and smelling, bad eyesight. It definitely heard us and just didn’t care until we got just a bit too close.)

Due to the fires that we just skirted passed in the prior days and weeks, we might be some of the last southbound hikers on trail. Or rather, some of the most northernly southbound hikers. We have no idea, really. We know of about 15-20 that are ahead; people that we had hiked with for a time or saw in the logbooks. We assumed there were more behind us, but how would we know? With the fires around Seiad Valley and Dunsmuir closing the trail, those that were behind us might now jump ahead. We may never know. Perhaps we’ll see more names in logbooks that we don’t recognize.

We only saw one other hiker today. He was heading southbound and arrived at the ranch just as we were setting off. Other than him, we seemed to have the whole wilderness to ourselves.