Highway 36 (Staying in Chester) to Warner Valley trailhead
I woke at 6:00 AM and went back to sleep. By 7:15 AM I knew we needed to get up. Even though we are in town in a hotel room, we still need to get 20 miles in today. Today's 20 miles is supposed to be easier, so we shouldn't have a problem even if we leave later.
We all got dressed and went down for the continental breakfast that was actually really good. After breakfast we packed up our stuff and headed back to the trail where we were ready to hike just before 10:00 AM. Tim should be in the photo, but there were 2 hikers that wanted a ride into town so he left before the photo.
We all got dressed and went down for the continental breakfast that was actually really good. After breakfast we packed up our stuff and headed back to the trail where we were ready to hike just before 10:00 AM. Tim should be in the photo, but there were 2 hikers that wanted a ride into town so he left before the photo.
OK...it is 10:00 AM and we need to hike 19 miles to get to a campground. Luckily today's hike isn't supposed to be too bad. It starts with a 6.5 mile hill. Then it goes down and then back up again and then it levels out. Even though there are hills, they are all gradual and not too steep.
I love when the PCT sign says Canada:
I love when the PCT sign says Canada:
Just after 1:00 PM we got a nice view of Mount Lassen:
Around 2:00 PM we stopped for lunch at the foot of a bridge crossing North Fork Feather River and finally got back on the trail by 3:15 PM.
Fifteen minutes later we were surprised to come across some trail magic put out by a couple. It's been a while since we have seen this kind of magic, so it was cool.
How exciting...at 5:40 PM we entered Lassen Volcanic National Park.
Since we are in a volcanic area, we had to check out at least one feature. Terminal Geyser is 0.3 miles down a side trail. It was 6:15 PM when we got there and we still had 2.5 miles to go, but we had to go see it.
When we got there we were happy we took the time to hike to it. It was pretty cool:
There was a deer just behind the steam looking like it was enjoying the heat:
The last 2.5 miles...actually, much of the day we hiked through a pine forest. I like the way the sun is lighting up the one pine tree:
The PCT went right by Boiling Spring Lake, another geothermal feature:
We saw this young buck out eating dinner just after 7:30 PM:
We arrived at Warner Valley Campground before 8:00 PM. We talked to the camp host and found out the ranger doesn't come by until 8:00 AM so we pitched our tents in the day use picnic area. It was great since there were picnic tables, outhouses, and water.
We quickly set up our tents and cooked/ate dinner at the picnic table...how civilized. We were all pretty tired after going to sleep late the night before in the hotel room and from the 19 mile hike, so we immediately went into our tents. We had a great day averaging almost 2 miles per hour including breaks, so we probably hiked 2.5 miles per hour most of the day. We are definitely getting faster.
Tomorrow we have a lot of miles to do, so let's see how fast we can hike then. Until tomorrow...
We quickly set up our tents and cooked/ate dinner at the picnic table...how civilized. We were all pretty tired after going to sleep late the night before in the hotel room and from the 19 mile hike, so we immediately went into our tents. We had a great day averaging almost 2 miles per hour including breaks, so we probably hiked 2.5 miles per hour most of the day. We are definitely getting faster.
Tomorrow we have a lot of miles to do, so let's see how fast we can hike then. Until tomorrow...