The PCT Halfway Point and Lassen Volcanic Wilderness – PCT 2017: A Hiking Story [32]

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Part 31 ‘New Faces and Many Miles’ 

Day 97 (14/07) – Frog and Cold Spring

I intended to sleep in, but I woke at 5:30am, quickly packed up, and decided to pass on making breakfast to avoid stirring the others. I glanced over to find Bobby Hill and 3G somewhat cuddled up asleep – ‘how cute!’ I thought.

The morning’s hike was going to be tough. From 2900 feet (0.88 km) to 7100 feet (2.16 km) altitude climb in 16 miles (25.75 km). It was beautiful early on in the hike – flowing streams and lush forest. I met four hikers still camping and playing cards, and was soon joined by Polar Bear. It wasn’t long before he got ahead of me, though – a very fast hiker.

There was a volunteer team about halfway up repairing a washed-out section of the trail. I spoke to a couple of girls at the back for a few minutes, wishing we had more time to spare, but I left them to their work and pressed on.

In a green, shaded area, I had lunch, and was passed by Bee Bop. I eventually caught up to him in a spot called Frog Spring, where I got reception and I chilled out there to give my legs a break.

I hiked several more miles before deciding a shorter day was desirable for my body to recuperate after the difficult and taxing climb. Cold Spring was my camp for the day, along with Rattler (the other Aussie) and his hiking family. I had dinner with them, but retreated to my tent early as they were planning their own logistics.

Distance hiked: 18.5 miles (29.77 km)

Total PCT hiked: 1303 miles (2,096.98 km)

Day 98 (15/07) – The PCT Halfway Point

I slept in a little in the morning, and didn’t end up leaving until 5:45am. I gathered a litre of water from the spigot nearby, and set off down the trail.

The day mainly was hiking along the top of a ridgeline, with amazing views of the mountains in the distance.

I met up with Rattler, RockDoc, Lovely Heart and Griz further down the trail at the PCT halfway monument – 1325 miles between Mexico and Canada on the trail!

I ended up finding a campsite at Soldier’s Creek, and set up early. Here there was 4G service, which I took advantage of with some blogging.

Distance hiked: 22.5 miles (36.21 km)

Total PCT hiked: 1325.5 miles (2,133.19 km)

Day 99 (16/07) – Lassen Volcanic Wilderness

I was the only one awake in the dark at 4am, cooking breakfast and packing to leave. As quietly as I could, I weaved between the mass of tents to get back to the trail. There was a surprising amount of hikers camped there for some reason!

The day of hiking was surprisingly cruisy and mostly flat, and I got to the border of Lassen wilderness area with little effort.

Domingo Spring was an off-trail water source I’d heard good things about, so I went there instead of the river for water. It was gorgeous and definitely worth the detour off the trail. I really loved how often freshwater springs appeared out of nowhere in California!

Next, I entered the boundary of Lassen Volcanic Wilderness (inside Lassen NP). In this section, you can’t overnight camp without a bear canister, so I decided to camp next to Drakesbad – a guest lodge that had a paid campground nearby with bear lockers for your food.

A few miles into the park, I detoured off to see the fumarole (mislabelled as a geyser on my app). A fumarole is a geothermal vent that constantly boils and releases steam and other gases, such as hydrogen sulfide – the rotten egg smell gas). Whereas a geyser temporarily boils and builds up pressure, shooting up a stream of boiling water and steam periodically. It was pretty amazing to see for me, as I had not been to any geothermally active regions before.

I braved getting close to peer into the vents, with boiling water bubbling away into steam. The wind changed at one point and the 100℃ steam blew into me – ‘Yeeooowww!‘ I shrieked, stepping back to safety before being scolded by boiling water. ‘Idiot tourist‘ I muttered to myself with a laugh.

I then made it to Drakesbad, where I met two new hikers – BevMo, an older Japanese American and another guy from Austria. Bevmo was super helpful and even gave me some of her resupply that she didn’t need. The place was surprisingly quite fancy for a remote lodge. For dinner, they served their lodge guests first, and then the hikers after. There were 7 of us, including Bee Bop, Stats, Dansani, Rocky, Peaks, Bevmo and Zazzi. All of us except Bevmo and Zazzi were camped at the same site.

Distance hiked: 23.5 miles (37.82 km)

Total PCT hiked: 1348 miles (2,169.4 km)

Next Post:

Part 33 ‘Chilling with Bears, Old Station & Burney Lodge’ 

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