Burney Falls to Dunsmuir – PCT 2017: A Hiking Story [34]
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Part 33 ‘Chilling with Bears, Old Station & Burney Lodge’
Day 103 (20/07) – Burney Falls
Sleeping in was always tough. With earplugs and a makeshift buff eye mask, I managed to sleep in until 6:30am – that’s a sleep-in for me! After getting up, I went into the lodge for coffee and breakfast. Here, there were endless waffles, quiche, sausages and potato hash! Hell yeah!
Most others headed out early, but I was having somewhat of a rest day as I didn’t visit the towns of Quincy and Chester, as most hikers had. I chilled out, played a few games of pool, blogged, and ordered a new pair of shoes. Sadly, the shoes I’m buying were sold out in my size and I had to get the newer, more expensive model – The ‘Altra Lone Peaks 3.5’.
I set off just before 4pm when it wasn’t quite as hot and made my way back to the PCT. Burney Falls was about 10 miles (16.09 km) away, and I planned on camping a few miles past it.
Shortly down the trail, I came across some amazing trail magic – ‘Wild Bird cache’, where there was traditional style lemonade, savoury snacks and red vine licorice! I signed the register and downed two cups of lemonade before heading off.
I took the detour to Burney Falls, and did a loop around the falls and creek. It was incredible, because Burney Creek (which feeds the falls) was bone dry, not even half a mile upstream. Then, downstream, a massive waterfall appears out of nowhere! I later learned, this is because the water is stored in a porous rock layer above the basalt layer and below the surface layer.
I hiked on further, reaching Lake Britton Dam, before heading uphill and camping on a flat field there.
Distance hiked: 12 miles (19.31 km)
Total PCT hiked: 1419 miles (2,283.66 km)
Day 104 (21/07) – Moosejaw Creek
It was an efficient pack-up this morning, and I was on trail in 50 minutes. I had a big day ahead of me, as I planned for at least 27 miles (43.45 km). It was an up, up, up morning hike – with one large hill to tackle before the trail flattened out.
There were beautiful flowers all day, and amongst them was a range of spectacular butterflies. The trail here was mostly nicely forested and green, although not too overgrown.
I met a new hiker – Dabear, and a hiker whom I met the day before at Burney Lodge – Hefty. I actually had met him the second time I got to Bishop, and had given his group a heads-up of what to expect in that next section.
At one point after lunch, I stopped for a break and ended up napping whilst slumped on my pack, only to be awakened by screaming low-flying jets! ‘Guess that was my alarm’, I think to myself.
I had dinner by Moosejaw Creek, where I filtered and filled 3L of water and took a break. I only had around 3 miles (5 km) to go, but I was tired. After hiking the last few miles, I found a great hidden campground amongst some trees, and cowboy camped there. From my campsite, I could see the volcanic Mt Shasta in the distance.
Distance hiked: 28.5 miles
Total PCT hiked: 1447.5 miles
Day 105 (22/07) – McCloud River
crash… snap… chk…snap…crash ‘Bugger off deer!’, I thought to myself. I would have said it aloud, but there was another unknown hiker near me. My sleep was patchy, and I got up slowly and procrastinated with the luxury of having mobile service at camp – a rarity!
Today, I needed to do 28–30 miles to make it feasible to hitch into the small townships of Mt Shasta or Dunsmuir.
I hiked hard and well, reading (or rather listening to) the first book in the series ‘Expeditionary Force’ by Craig Alanson and narrated by R.C Bray (quickly becoming my favourite narrator). Audiobooks and hiking go hand in hand in my opinion. Again I bumped into Hefty and Dabear, along with briefly seeing Zazzi (an older lady I’ve been running into over the past few days).
When I arrived at McCloud River around 2pm, I knew I had to swim – it looked amazing and it was so damn hot! Unexpectedly, the water was freezing! I managed a splash bath with my lower body submerged, and did the ‘gasp splashing’ technique. The pain was worth the feeling in the end.
Along the way, there were some extraordinary geological formations on the side of the trail.
After a long haul without water, I finally refilled at Trough Creek, and camped on the side of the trail nearby.
Distance hiked: 29.5 miles
Total PCT hiked: 1479 miles
Day 106 (23/07) – Dunsmuir
I had an easy stretch to hike to the Interstate 5 highway that allowed me to get to small towns such as Dunsmuir, or Mt Shasta.
I passed several deer, and awesome streams and had good views of Mt Shasta all day – it was great!
In the end, I only got a hitch as far as Dunsmuir, after failing to get a further hitch to Mt Shasta. Mt Shasta was a more common destination for hikers to visit, but Dunsmuir was just more convenient at the moment.
I stayed at an inn there and purposely got a twin queen room. I knew there were others arriving there behind me on trail, and I’d offer a room to anyone seeking it. It didn’t take long before a guy named Old School took the other bed, saving me some money.
I went out to the brewery for lunch and a beer, and resupplied from the supermarket before chilling out back in the room. I found a giant can of Fosters – the ‘Australian’ beer, and thought I had to give it a try.
Distance hiked: 20 miles
Total PCT hiked: 1499 miles
Next Post:
Part 35 ‘Castle Crags and Finding the Long Lost Dinosaur’
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