I left town with the goal of making it to Burney Mountain Guest Ranch today, I set off up a road walk onto the trail. The trails still burnt but not as badly, I get a little past Old Station and take a .4 mile detour to see the Subway Caves lava tubes.
The lava tube was pretty cool, inside the tube was nice and cold! It was a good break coming out of the hot mid day sun the day after a heat wave into the dark cold tunnel. I walk for a bit in darkness and then stumble on the uneven ground. I toss on my headlamp and now I can go exploring, I meet two other hiking at the bottom who are section hiking and going SOBO.
We explore the underground tunnel area together, chat about our travels and then find the trail out of the lava tube and back to the PCT. I say good bye and hang a left as they hang a right, adios guys. I set off up the trail again with no headphones in this time, I was told they saw 4 rattle snakes in the last mile on the way here. Sweet, I’ve only seen 3 this whole trip, one last week that was the first one that’s rattled at me. With the temperatures in the 90s it makes sense they’re out and about.
As I climb to the top of the hill I see no rattlesnakes but a few people at the top of the hill at the Hat creek overlook. I decide to stop and take a break, as I’m hanging out taking in the views through the view points a woman Audrey in a camper van pulls up. She hops out and we start chatting. Her vibes immaculately from New England without the air of entitlement. I immediately realize I can talk to her easily. Come to find out she raised her kids in Andover MA before moving around the country a bit. What a small world I meet someone who’s lived 20 minutes away from me all the way out here.
After talking about everything under the sun from hiking to life back home for about an hour she offers me a ride to Burney. Absolutely, I don’t mind getting there a day earlier and relaxing and I really won’t be upset about missing this 14 miles of burnt trail.
Audrey tells me she’ll be up at Crater lake when I walk thru there next month working for the Parks services. I’ll definitely be looking for you to say hi, and to get the inside info on that area! Audrey drops me off at the bottom of the hill to BMGR and we say our goodbyes and I give her a hug. I finish the walk up the hill to the 145 acre property and I’m greeted by Christine who owns the property with her husband Kyran.
“Hi there do you want a Coke, Dr Pepper or root beer?”- Christine
I’ll take a coke please!- me
She shows me around the property and explains how everything works. As she is giving me the tour another hiker stumbles in. Wrong Turn a Marine from NC who is currently going SOBO as he flip flopped his hike. He left before the Sierras to skip the snow and then did the Oregon coast trail SOBO. He said it sucked, beautiful coast between long road walks. Wouldn’t do it again. Noted. I’ve heard that a lot about the road walks. I don’t care for them.
Christine shows us the bunk houses and tells us where we can do laundry and find dinner. Dinners at 6PM! We don’t know the menu, just to show up.
We congregate in the dining room sharing stories with the other 3 hikers here. Kim a gentleman from San Fran who’s going SOBO like Wrong Turn and one other who’s a retired Air Force lawyer from Wyoming Tony. Tony’s going NOBO on a 600 mile section hike.
Dinner arrives and it’s a spread. Salad, meatballs and pasta, fruit plate and desert. I got Italian dressing for the salad.
After dinner we are told the all you can eat breakfast starts are 7AM. We retire to the bunk house and hang out for a bit, Christine says to be careful outside at night as they’ve seen four cougars around here recently. A momma and her cubs. We hang outside for like 10 minutes and the mosquitos are nuts.
I plan to spend tomorrow hanging out by the pool for a zero day to refresh my mental outlook. On top of that my foot’s still annoying me from being poked by something post holing and this is a perfect place to relax.
The Pacific Crest Trail 