July 26th
Despite the heat we slept in the tent last night to avoid the mosquitoes. But, even lying naked on top of the sleeping bag it was still to stifling hot at first for a restful sleep. Somewhere after midnight it finally cooled of enough to drift away in silent slumber. My sleeping pad is starting to lose its “loft”; it no longer cushions the hips very well. Each night I am tossing and turning more frequently and awakening with sore hips and sometimes numbness in the legs from nerves being pinched a bit. This morning was the worst this has been. Nothing to do but to get up and walk it off, and to look for campsites with more “duff” (pine needles and leaves) to provide some natural cushioning.
After a couple miles of walking, we crested a ridgeline and began the long and winding walk down to Dunsmuir. The Sacramento River has carved out a valley which now holds not only the river, but also I-5 as well as Castella and Dunsmuir. Other than a couple of quick looks at Shasta and a peek or two at the upcoming Castle Crags it was another 14 mile walk in the oblivion of trees.
Two eagles circled above us, soaring over head with high pitched squeaks to one another, probably bragging about how lucky they are to be able to swoop down to the Sacramento River below, feast on fish and retreat back to the cooler highlands in mere moments. Meanwhile, it has taken us a little more than 3 hours to cover the same space, almost 10 miles…….
The trail crosses I-5 at a frontage road exit underpass. Not much traffic on the frontage road makes it a hard hitch into town. We wait for 50 minutes and get picked up after no more than about 10 cars. The valley is HOT and we are glad to get to town where we can seek out a cool place. We settle in at the Travelodge and cool off with showers, ice cold sodas and an air conditioner turned on full blast.
Strut and Trainwreck relax in our room while waiting for Tigger to return from her hunt for new shoes. Sheppard and Little John are next door. Dunsmuir is a nice town with a very complete grocery store, library with internet and a pizza place which is featuring an extra large pepperoni as their daily special…..it was the pizza of my dreams, literally, two nights ago. Now it is reality……..
