Day 110 Miles 1233-1251.5

Day 110

Start: 1233.3 End: 1251.5 Total: 18.2

Had a great start to the day, super chill trail and walking. A little bit of uphill with great views then rolling hills down. We took a dirt road for a mile ish to avoid some really big blow downs from the fire that had destroyed the area. We then rejoined the trail a bit further up.

Luckily a trail crew had come through right before us and cleared much of the brush and downed trees so the hiking wasn’t terribly challenging. However, the fire had destroyed all of the trees and there were large exposed areas. Then there were areas that the trees still stood but they were completely dead and burnt.

I listened to my book as I walked through this area. It was sad to see so much destruction and it was so hot with no shade. I did get a glimmer of hope seeing all the new trees starting to come in. But it’ll be some time before this forest returns to what it was.

I got down to a road where it is once again recommended to take the road instead of the trail. They say the trail is practically impassable for those few miles due to the amount of brush and down trees. When I got down to the road, Spikewalker was there. We had seen him the day before and that morning. I walked with him for about a mile until I got to a spring and some shade I would rest in for lunch.

Spikewalker was from Germany and had set out to do the trail with his girlfriend. She had been experiencing a lot of various foot pain and they had to take so much time off for that. After 8 zeros in a row they came to a conclusion that he would go ahead and she would take it slower. She has a group of other hikers to hike with and when she is able to do 25 miles again per day she will rejoin him for the end. They have limited time because of their visa and it is really important to Spikewalker to be able to do the whole trail.

I got to a spring and sat in the shade to have lunch and wait for Mantis who was a it behind me. I met Big Owl who is going south to make up some miles she missed on her thru hike. She gave me the phone number for a trail angel to stay with in Quincy and went on.

Mantis arrived eventually and we took a long lunch break before continuing on the re route that was entirely exposed.

Eventually the road led back to the trail but this section had not been worked on by the trail crew so there were many downed trees.

We began the descent down into the basin below where the middle feather river divides the burn zone and the green hills on the other side. It was a quick descent and I went a bit further ahead and would meet Mantis at the river below where we’d camp. I saw something that looked like wild raspberries but I wasn’t sure.

When I got down I was amazed to see such a big and beautiful river and bridge

There were some other hikers there and I found a spot to set my stuff and ran to jump in the river. It was such a hot, exposed journey down the water was so welcome. I soon saw Mantis coming over the bridge and went to greet him. We dropped our stuff then went exploring on the other side of the bridge and found really neat pools and rocks to sit on and swim in.