Day 78, 26.8 miles

I woke up in the neat little campsite by the river. As I was leaving I saw that a few other hikers had the same idea and had camped nearby last night. I must’ve been passed out to not hear them! I hit the trail right at 6am and started tackling the enormous climb. With the way the mountain was situated, I really only had to climb the last 4 miles of it in the direct sun! Not too bad!

Entering Lassen! (The Forest at least...) Get ready for some volcanos in a couple days! 

The biggest pinecone I ever did see!!

Oh hey, looks like I’m finished! Haha. What a teaser...

At the very tip top of the climb

I hiked solo all day today. Since I was able to charge my battery pack in Belden I was able to listen to music/podcasts all day, which I enjoyed very much! I’m really into this podcast called Beautiful Anonymous, where people call in and talk to host Chris Gethard for an hour, completely anonymously, about whatever is on their mind! There are a lot of cool, sad, happy, awesome, and just straight up crazy things going on in people’s lives out there! It’s really neat to here these people talk for an hour about their careers, views, hardships, situations, travels, money, sudden deaths in the family at times, or just plain old advice that they need at the moment. There’s definitely an openness in the way people talk as they are in a judge-free space. I’d definitely recommend!

Anyways, I stopped for lunch at a nice cold spring (it was actually called Cold Spring), haha. It was here I ran into Peter again! Peter is the guy I met in the Sierra from South Africa who had dropped his camera in the river! He has since gotten a new one, and is still making the documentary to help support children with cancer! It was cool to see him and catch up!

“Maybe if I stand behind this tree the human can’t see me... Ah yes, he’s gone!!”

I am one with the deer...

Well, it’s been a long and tiring day! I finished my day before 7pm which was great! I definitely don’t hurt as much as I did in my first few 25+ mile days. I’m stronger than I’ve ever been before although very tired! I’ve essentially been going non-stop since Sierra City almost 130 miles ago! I can’t wait to get into Chester tomorrow and eat a ton of food and upload my blogs! I’m planning on actually staying a night there and taking two half days to rest instead of in and out in one day! 

Thanks for reading!!