September 11

Distance: 23.2 miles | Ascent: 5980′ | Descent: 2770′

Mile marker: 1390.3

Lunch: J – chicken taco (B+), A – tomato orzo (C+)

Dinner: J – chicken parm (A+), A – chicken taco (A+)

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Jason slept really well in the treehouse last night. His watch gave him a 97/100 sleep score! Alex didn’t sleep as well, waking up to trains and trucks passing through Belden throughout the night.  Nevertheless, we felt mostly rested and ready to tackle the climb out of Belden – after a few chores, of course.

In recent weeks, a vertical rod of Alex’s pack frame had busted through the fabric and began poking her in the rear with every step. Finally frustrated enough to do something about it, she spent some time in the morning sewing, gluing, and taping the pack fabric back together. It held! At least for now. Meanwhile, we finished topping off our electronics outside the Belden store/restaurant/hotel/museum.

The cool weather meant we didn’t have to race out to beat the heat. The humidity, however, we couldn’t escape. Relative humidity is weird. Because of the rain and whatever weather front was moving in, the humidity was >90%, according to the weather forecast. And boy-howdy, did we feel it when we made the climb. At over 4000′ in 6.3 miles, it was our steepest significant climb to date. We rose above the planes! Or, at least one military plane doing a low-elevation flight through the canyon we now overlooked.

We started off in the forest. Some patches of trees remained, but most were burned from the 2021 Dixie Fire. We’ll finally leave that burnzone today. We’ve been in the thick of it since Lassen Volcano National Park.

Eventually, we rose above the forest and into more open high mountains. It wasn’t exactly alpiney, but unique in its own way. Maybe that’s a difference between the Cascades and the Sierra Nevadas.

We stopped for lunch at the first spring, just 5 miles into the day. We had opted to not carry a lot of water up our climb, and we got a later start than usual to the day. We had some sun, but it quickly disappeared behind the clouds as we ate. The humidity was killer, and we were drenched in sweat. With no sun or even a breeze, we were just kinda damp for the rest of the day. Gross, sure, but that’s how it is sometimes.

We bobbed along the tops of the mountains for a bit. We just kissed 7000′ elevation before a shallower descent towards Buck Summit.

It was along one of these ridges that we finally left the Dixie Fire burnzone. It’s unbelievable how destructive that fire was and how much it completely changed the landscape. It’s also sad to know that it won’t recover fully in our lifetimes. And once it does, it won’t be the same anyway with climate change and the introduction of non-native species.

Anyway… the rest of the day flew by. We were crushing the trail and making great time. It helped that there were almost zero blowdowns and a super cushy underfooting.

We got to camp just after dark and used our headlamps to eat and get ready for tomorrow. We’ve heard of possible blowdowns on the trail tomorrow. We’re braced, but also know how some hikers tend to fearmonger and exaggerate. Hope we get A+ sleep scores again!