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Burney to Castella/Shasta City
Monday, July 17: Burney -- Day off
Tuesday, July 18: Peavine Creek — 21.8 miles (1431.6)
We ended up taking Monday off in Burney. We were packed and ready to go, but still so tired we could hardly see straight. So we got another room at the motel and settled in for a quiet day of reading and watching reruns on TV. We got a ride out of town fairly quickly (1/2 hour) with the principal of the Christian Academy next to the trail. Nice man. Oddly enough, at the same time he stopped, another car turned around to pick us up, driven by the guy who gave us a ride on Sunday.
The seven trail miles to Burney-MacArthur State Park were utterly forgettable — just flat winding through scrub forest. The waterfall at the park, on the other hand was very memorable. It was probably the prettiest waterfall I’ve ever seen — and I’ve seen a few! It drops 129’ with a volume of 100 million gallons a day. Seems like a lot to me, especially when you consider that the water comes from underground springs not far upstream. We met a new thruhiker, Tim, at the snack bar, where we drank soda and ate ice cream while ignoring the hordes around us. The PCT doesn’t actually go to the falls, so it was a bit confusing trying to find our way back through the maze of trails, but instinct steered us right. The trail later goes past green Lake Britton and over its dam. I enjoyed seeing the lake, once I realized that the steep trail down to the base of the dam was not the PCT after all. It went straight down! It was nice to be away from the crowds at the park and back in the quiet of the woods. I’m not sure I was quite ready to be back on the trail, but now that I am, I’m content. We shouldn’t have to push too hard for the next few days. No big water problems, and plenty of time to reach Dunsmuir, our next mail-drop, by Friday.
The afternoon was spent climbing gently through changing forests. We had dry live oak and manzanita for a while, then dense firs. The highlight was taking a quick dip in Rock Creek mid-afternoon. I was so hot and dry! (It’s in the 90’s today.) The water felt cold and wonderful, and made the next three hours much more pleasant as my clothes gradually dried in the breeze. We’re at a big campsite off trail a bit, much used by hunters and car campers, with tables and hanging bars. The creek is dry here, so I had to search downstream to find water. It was a bit frustrating since I had to keep going back and forth over the same stretch of road over and over. We’re a bit tired, but don’t feel too bad for a 22-mile day. It’s easy trail. We met Allen walking the other way, heading for Berkeley and a new pair of boots. Tim is camped back by the road. He was already settled in when we passed by.
Wednesday, July 19: Grizzly Peak Road - 24.8 +1.0 (1456.4)
I understand why so many people are anti-logging; what a mess they make! We passed through a lot of logged areas today, some lightly cut, some completely bulldozed. We crossed logging road after logging road. Sometimes finding the trail was difficult where a bulldozer had cut across the trail. Elsewhere we had the opposite problem: brush and saplings had grown up to completely bury the trail. We had to feel our way with our feet. In one place, the loggers had dumped cut branches back onto the trail. Thanks guys! All in all, it was not a good morning. We only walked about 10 miles before lunch because the going was slow. We did run into a Forest Service trail crew — three people — so the next mile or so should be better. That was in an area of total devastation. Without their efforts we would not have been able to find the trail at all, thanks to bulldozed ruts everywhere. We saw one deer, plus lots of white and orange lilies, orange columbine and paintbrush, blue larkspur and penstemon.
The afternoon was a bit better, though we never did get much energy. There were some good views north to Shasta, south to Lassen, and of all the green hills around us. We decided to cook dinner and move on a couple of miles, both because there are no good campsites near the water source (a tiny pond) and to make tomorrow a bit easier, we hope. We’re both tired and sore, but willing to do a bit more. We walked for a mile or so on an old dirt road that parallels the trail for 22 miles. Partly it was rebellion against the trail, partly it does cut a little distance off the side trail to water, and partly I hoped it would be less overgrown than the trail. (It wasn’t.) Oh well, we did find water, and that’s what really matters. There was a really cold spring today that was almost too cold to drink. Earlier we got snow from a big drift to ice off the water in our water bottles. Odd to see snow when it’s 90°!
Finding the trail again after dinner was actually harder than finding the pond, and finding a campsite was harder still. The trail was on the south side of the ridge, wandering through dense manzanita. There was no place to go to find a clear spot to sleep until we reached a jeep road. Then we set up our tent in a small parking spot along the road. It doesn’t look like it gets much use, and it’s either that or the trail itself. We’ve seen bear sign, so don’t really want to be blocking the trail if we can avoid it. I hate getting run over by creatures that weigh more than I do!
Thursday, July 20: Squaw Valley Creek — 27.1 miles (1483.5)
Our wide spot in the road turned out to be a restful campsite, once we put up the tent to keep out the mosquitos. They were hungry! We left at 7:00 a.m., climbing the jeep road to Grizzly Peak. Though longer, that alternate route was preferable to the overgrown segment of trail we passed, and the views were supposed to be better. It was too hazy for pictures, but still it’s nice to look out over the green ridges below. Last night was really good for views as we hiked until it was almost dark. I love the late evening light with all the blue and purple shadows.
From the peak, we descended all morning to the McCloud River. There were lots of side creeks. I fell in one, thanks to a slippery rock. It cooled me off, anyway. We saw a deer and a snake that looked like a coral snake, but was probably a king snake, its harmless cousin. It was black, yellow, black, red, black, yellow, black, etc. The colors were framed in black. It was a different one anyway.
I dipped my legs in the river at lunch, trying to cool off. The water was too cold and flowing too fast for a real swim, but it did feel good. The trail has been mixed: overgrown in many places, dangerously narrow in others, and sometimes wide easy cruising trail. The vegetation is mixed too, with some oak forest and some pine groves. It’s very dry. We climbed for most of the afternoon, then dropped again to a couple of creeks. There was no place to camp at the first creek, a small site half a mile later, and a big camping area at the third creek three miles further on. Guess where we ended up? We’re very sore and tired, but happy to stop. I took a bath in the creek. It was cold but wonderful. We passed a couple of weekenders and said hello, but didn’t stop to chat. Jim scared a big rattlesnake, a Mojave Green. It went off trail and coiled up under a log, rattling at us. The trail was badly overgrown all afternoon — deer bush and saplings mostly — with a bad infestation of poison oak. I may already be infected; I’ve had a rash on my legs for a couple of days. It doesn’t itch much, but it looks a mess. Though poison oak has never been a problem before, the rash could be an allergic reaction to it or something else. Or it could be just too many mosquito and ant bites. I’ve had more than a few of those. It was really hot today — mid to high 90’s — so shorts were a necessity, especially for the climb, but we may pay for that tomorrow. The woman we passed looked at our bare legs and asked, “Don’t you have a problem with the poison oak?” “What poison oak?” “Oh, you mean the last ten miles of trail.” We laughed. What else can you do? The oils will get on you, one way or another, either on skin or on clothes. It’s not like we can take a bath and put our dirty clothes in the washing machine any time we want.
Friday, July 21: Mt. Shasta City — 16.9 + 3.0 (1500.4)
It was a long day, rushing to get to the post office in Dunsmuir before it closed at 5:00. This was made harder by the fact that there’s no easy way to Dunsmuir. It’s 4 ½ miles from the trail, which we did partly by walking illegally on the freeway, then we took to the rural roads. We got a ride the last couple of miles. Most PCT hikers go to Castella, a small village closer to the trail, but we heard that Dunsmuir had more services so we chose to go to the bigger, but farther, town. Then we decided to complicate things still further. Both our boots are starting to fall apart, so Jim and I decided to catch a bus to the next, and even larger, town, Mt. Shasta City, which has an outfitter. We got there six minutes after the store had closed. Oh well. We walked back up the road a mile or so to a motel, where the hot shower was the highlight of my day. We did our grocery shopping in Dunsmuir, so all that is left is laundry and dinner. Then we can collapse. The town has lots of bars with live music, a decent bookstore, and the Black Bear Diner has hiker-sized portions – a good place to visit, all in all.
We had a nice walk in the woods this morning, despite the rush. An easy gentle climb was followed by an even easier gentler descent. It was too gentle, but that’s another story. Wheelchair trail again. I was glad for the early start as it meant we were climbing in the shade, for the most part. There were some nice views of Mt. Shasta and Castle Crags across the valley.
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