July 16th
At the hostel, everyone is up at 7am for a fabulous breakfast prepared by the Braattens. Former long distance hikers themselves, they know what means the most and keep the eggs, bacon, pancakes, fruit, juice and coffee coming. We waddle out of there back to the trail.
As we are about to set out walking, Toecke and Ruth come walking off the mountain and we spend a few minutes comparing notes. Then we set off to climb out of Beldon, another long ascent.
This time we face a 4,600-elevation gain, albeit spread out over 13 miles. Loaded with pancakes and hauling packs now loaded with food, its always tougher climbing OUT of towns than in coming in.
Its not even 10am, but its already hot. The shade that made this climb tolerable in ’94 is gone for about a third of the climb, the victim of a fire several years ago. Only now, we are the fires victims too, suffering from direct sun. Thankfully there are a number of streams providing cool water to soak in and to drink.
The guidebook indicates that, geologically, we are leaving the Sierras. We climb out of this canyon onto the Modoc plateau and into the southern extension of the Cascade Range. The distinction is subtle. From the top, it mostly appears to be more rolling green ridges with occasional outcroppings of volcanic rock. Mt Lassen, the cascades southern sentinel appears right where we left it, as a solitary figure to the north.
We catch up to Doghiker and MGD who left just before us. They are cooling off in a creek, also struggling with the heat, heavier loads and the pancakes. Overhead, a fast moving thin band of clouds is streaming north, possibly a front moving in. It brings some relief from the heat.
At Cold Springs we stop to make dinner. Strut, Tigger and Train wreck are already there. We polish off a trail favorite, pasta with red sauce. A 6-ounce can of tomato paste goes a long ways. It’s a dinner we usually have once every 3 or 4 nights. After dinner we hike on for a couple miles to set ourselves up for the hike onto Chester tomorrow. On the top of a small peak we find a clearing with nice views of the sky as it’s fading from light to stars. All of the clouds have cleared off and as lay out the sleeping bag the Milky Way turns on overhead, very bright. A few malingering mossies are a nuisance, but not enough to drive us away from our star show and into a tent.
