PCT day 91 – Snake and fire in one day
We were up and out of camp by 6:30am again. We saw that there was a bit of a climb first thing so we wanted to get it out the way early. We got in 8.5 miles by 9:30 which was pretty good going seeing as it was all up hill. But thankfully it was a nice gentle uphill and there was lots of shade as we were walking through forest, thought it wasn't that hot anyway.
We stopped by Peavine creek and filled up on water and had some food. Mine was crackers with some sweet relish (donated to us at Burney Falls) and tuna. And Cheetos, of course. Cool Breeze had a tortilla with mayonnaise and hot sauce and jalapeño pretzel bites.
We took stupid photos...
...then we carried on walking. It was getting a lot hotter now, and we crossed under some power lines that were buzzing. It felt like you were going to get struck by the electricity. Behind me Cool Breeze cried out – I thought the electricity got him! But it turns out I had just merrily walked past a rattle snake who was now pretty angry, coiled and rattling and ready to strike Cool Breeze as he passed! He gave it a wide berth and we escaped. I haven't seen a snake on the trail for so long that I no longer look out for them. We were both on high alert for the next couple of hours!
We stopped at Deadman creek for water and then we had another little climb, at the top I suggested a water break, Cool Breeze suggested we make it a food break, then it turned into a nap break. We had already done 15 miles by 2:30 so we had water, food and a nap and woke up at 4:20! Time to get moving again.
Walking along we had views of a snowy Mt Shasta in the distance. The terrain was varied, gentle ups and downs, sometimes clear and flat, sometimes overgrown with plants, sometimes full of rocks and roots making it tough going.
We came around a corner and saw fire trucks and fire men all kitted up. I thought I could smell fire. Cool Breeze said he couldn't. So we walked down the hill and went to talk to them to find out what was going on. A tree had been struck by lightening last night and was still smouldering, a plane was flying overhead trying to direct the fire fighters. Apparently this area got 'hit hard' by lightening storms last night, and there were more due for the next couple of days. Very reassuring! The clouds had been gathering all day and it was now quite overcast and there was a chilly wind. One of the crew was talking to us about the trail – his son did it last year and he told him to be nice to any thru hikers he came across, so he gave us both a Gatorade! Yes!
We carried on, we never saw the smouldering tree, and we camped in a nice spot after a 23.5 mile day.
