Day 85: Old Station

Memories from July 14

Today was largely a flat walk through trees of varying densities and levels of burnedness. The one very small rise of maybe 100-200ft was almost a shock to the body which couldn’t figure out which muscles to apply to this strange obstacle.

I first stopped by the RV/Cabin camp in Old Station for a snack and wound up eating a box of cereal with chocolate and strawberry nesquick milk. It was good going down and not good for the next two hours. While I lay down to give my stomach a rest, Short Shorts was practicing on his guitallele which was a pleasant distraction.

I “hitch raced” Short Shorts & Co. To JJ’s Cafe, 3 miles down the road. I walked and they hitched. I want to maintain the continuous footstep track I have from the border and figured that since we’d just watched a guy fail to get a hitch for two hours, I would have dinner half eaten by the time they arrived. Instead, they got a hitch as I was hoisting my pack and had clean plates when I joined them and Juice.

After dinner we walked to the Subway Cave, a lava tube which is the last easy water supply for 32 miles. Technically, there’s water access 8 or 10 miles in but the short trail to it crosses a lot of tightly packed elevation lines on the topo map so I loaded up with enough to not need to visit it. After a quick trip though the lava tube, we set of into the dusk for a night hike onto the exposed, waterless Hat Creek Rim. Just was we reached a parking lot at the start of the rim, a couple of half-drunk folks invited us to join them on the asphalt to enjoy a beer and conversation with the sunset.

After taking our leave from them an hour or so later, we passed a small herd of cattle. In the dark their eyes reflected my headlamp but they were far enough away that I couldn’t make out their bodies. Since their eyes were more widely spaced than a deer’s

Burn area featuring Lassen.