Hat Creek, near Old Station
Miles: not sure...
Trip: 658 + not sure = ?
Our first rainstorm today, and our timing couldn't have been better. When we left Drakesbad (after a never-ending breakfast and playful soak in the pool-sized hot tub) there were some suspicious-looking clouds peeking over the ridge. They grew with deep rumbling and finally let loose with pea-sized hail and a drenching rain. Or so we deduced from the piles of hailstones and deeply trenched trail - we missed the actual storm by 30 minutes! Lucky hikers - we still got the cooling effect of the clouds, which may last through the upcoming and infamous Hat Creek Rim. My favorite part of a forest rain is the smells it unlocks. Afterward, the scents of vanilla-cinnamon-sugar from Ponderosa pine, fresh cedar bark, the soft citrus of sage brush - all intensified in the evaporating moisture.
We've been getting to know some hikers over the past several days, sharing meals at Drakesbad and marveling at trail angels' kindness. As much as I love Andrew (and that's a lot) it's refreshing to have other personalities around. Tonight Paws and I sat and joked around the fire long after Andrew had retired to the tent. Someone to talk to who doesn't know all my stories - that's what's missing when you travel with your better half.
Shaggy says:
Then we ate the drakesbad breakfast. It was incredible. Cereal, oatmeal, toast, quiche, croissants, tea, coffee. When we had eaten everything on the table, the waitress asked if we were still hungry. We all glanced at each other and quickly replied, "not yet". We were then given eggs and potatoes and pinto beans. All of this for $5. I love Drakesbad.
When we had finished eating, Lauren and I went for one last hot springs swim. I wanted to pay our tab, but the entire staff at the ranch was in a meeting. The owner of Drakesbad came down to the pool and asked if I was Andrew. I had not paid my tab yet and she was a bit concerned. I quickly paid it and let her know that I would never run off without paying a tab, and hoped no other hikers would either. I feel kind of bad that they would assume I was not going to pay, not a good feeling to be wrongly accused. I hope that no hikers would skip out on any tab, particularly a $10 amazing dinner at Drakesbad!
We were finally on the trail by 11 AM. Hard to leave the vortex of Drakesbad. We made great time all day long. It was flat. Flattest stretch of trail I have seen yet.
We dodged a thunderstorm somehow. It dumped a ton of hail a couple miles up from where we waited under a tree.
We leap-frogged with Easy Miles, Steady, Paws, and Hamburger all day.
20 miles today. We are camped just a few miles from Old Station. Plan to get there early and stay until the evening when we will take off and begin a 29 mile waterless stretch. I look forward to it =).
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| Silvery lupine leaves and the lavender blossoms really spruced up this gnarly forest. |
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| Oh god! A giant lady bug is being engulfed by this tree! Nah, it's just a funky trail marker the tree is eating... |
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| Hmmm, maybe we should lay low at the lake for a while while hail pummels the next few miles of trail. |
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| Yup, that turned out to be a good idea. It isn't enormous, but I still say these hailstones may have made hiking unpleasant. |
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| Andrew playing on nature's jungle gym near our Hat Creek camp. |
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