Miles today: 10.8

Trail miles sum: 760

Trail location: 1428.8

Elevation: 2994

Spinning on the turntable: Beach Boys: Pet Sounds

We spent last night at a campground. It’s a festival atmosphere with everyone flocking in for the 4th of July holiday. After the backwoods it’s very loud and a tiny little bit obnoxious. The hot showers were nice!

I had decided to hike half a day so that I could spent a little time with Noelle and then we’d hike a half day together in the afternoon. We went down to Burney falls and the view was just amazing! Wow! I’m so glad we took the time to visit. As one hiker said on Guthooks “If you can’t make the time to visit the falls, you may need to ask yourself why you’re hiking the trail in the first place.” (Or something close to that.)

We met Mason, a school teacher from somewhere local. He spotted us (or smelled me), eyeballed our clothing, and knew that we were attempting a PCT thru-hiker. It was fun to chat with him. He teaches his students about hiking! How awesome is that?!?

We left Burney falls and started hiking. It was fun to see the dam. Dams always impress me with their power to regulate water. Super cool to get up close to the action.

Noelle was feeling quite “brown” and opted to head back towards toilets and the van. I continued on. At some point I’ll have to do a post about how selfish a thru-hike can be.

One of the nice things about bumping further north is that I’m seeing more flowers again. I can’t name the flowers to save my life but they sure are amazing to look at and appreciate.

I bumped into a semi-lost family who had no water, map, compass or GPS device. They wanted to know where the nearest paved road was. I aimed them behind me, about six miles, and wished them well.

A kinder hiker than I would have offered them water, but today I’m not that hiker. They had just passed a creek and could have drank there.

Speaking of that creek!

I stopped and had a great afternoon break. I soaked my feet and washed my shirt.

I was debating going in for a bath but decided that I was too close to civilization. I was pretty darn close though.

..and speaking of close…