Another Flat-Footed Adventure: July 18, 2012

Day 33
Plumas National Forest
22 miles from Belden
Miles: 25
Trip: 572

A late start (didn't start hiking until almost 8:30!) and a long swimming break meant that we had another late night. The swimming hole was worth hiking an hour later; cool water cascading over smooth rocks into a pool deep enough to dive into. That swim also made the downhill hiking and resulting shin pain a little more bearable. The shin splints make me nervous, since I know it can lead to stress fracture. But I'm not about to stop hiking, at least not long enough to be pain-free. So for now, I'll suffer (perhaps not quietly...) and try not to overdo the downhills.

Our day saw some real excitement hit close to home. A fire on the trail! Late morning, we heard and saw a helicopter flying back and forth along the ridge we were contouring. It carried a huge bucket dangling from a cable, and we suspected a fire someways off. Then we spotted orange liquid spattered on the trail - fire retardant? We were wondering if there would be another round of orange goo coming from the sky when we rounded a corner and heard shouting. A half-dozen hotshots (forest firefighters) were working to contain a smoldering patch of fire that had eaten about 100 square feet of forest floor. One guy (jokingly?) asked to see our footprints - the fire had been started by a hiker, apparently, and the investigation was on.

Shaggy says:

Today was rather eventful, more so than usual. For me, the day started at 3 AM. I was honestly paranoid about the food not being hung in a tree. I heard some branches snap and thought to myself that its probably a bear, or a deer, or at least a raccoon. Whatever it was, I am sure it wanted to kill us in our sleep. So I shined my my light around. Finally spotted a set of eyes, glaring into my light. It was the eyes of death I thought. Then it darted off, crashing branches, it sounded large. Lauren finally woke up, asked what I was doing. I always try to play it cool when something is wrong, so I told her I was just waiting to see the sunrise... with my headlamp on... at 3 AM. She simply told me to go back to sleep. Which I eventually did. Maybe our snoring would keep the beast back.
Around seven, we awoke. I looked all over for bear tracks... only found some deer tracks. They say that Sasquatch covers his tracks, maybe that's what it was. He likes these Northwest areas right?
We started hiking late, but we hiked fast. A sweet swimming hole on the Wild and Scenic Feather River awaited us. We got there at 11, and stayed until 1230. The water was great. Easy Miles, an lawyer from Portland joined us. It felt so good to swim in the cool water.
We then began a climb out of the river valley, 3300 feet up. We noticed a helicopter flying around us. I thought, maybe someone is getting rescued. Or theres a fire nearby. The helicopter made several runs past us, soon we noticed the bucket it was towing underneath, definitely a fire nearby. We eventually rounded a corner and noticed a red goo on everything. Guess the helicopter is dropping more than water. Rounded another corner to find heavy smoke, and 15 firefighters. I was worried we would have to turn around. But they said hike on through. The fire was tiny, probably less than an acre. Well under control too. They said it was probably a hiker who started the fire though, as a campsite was nearby. Its such a dry year, I hope folks are being careful.
The rest of the day was rather uneventful. We hiked 25 miles and until 830 again. Lauren's shin is hurting again, hoping it feels better tomorrow! Now I need sleep.

"Once mountains lodge in your soul, the need to have real peaks around you becomes an almost physical itch." -Douglas Chadwick