This morning I got packed up even earlier than usual. When I camp this close to people, I typically try to be more productive in the morning. I don’t want to be snoozing my alarm repeatedly when I’m right beside some other hikers. By the time I was packed up and ready to go it was still dark and I needed my headlamp. Though, the sun has been coming up later in the morning than it was a week or two ago.

I think I was walking by 5:15 AM, which was fantastic. And the day was going to be ridiculously nice and easy. I would have a short climb or two to do. But that was it over the course of an entire 41 mile day. For the most part, the trail is going to be wildly flat today. Plus, once I left camp this morning, I was only about 8 miles out from old Station. A super small town with a gas station, restaurant, and motel. I would be able to grab breakfast, some drinks, and some snacks for the day. Then could continue on the last 32 miles to Burney Mountain Guest l Ranch.

Over the course of the morning, I passed by tons of people tented. Which I guess makes sense because I camped only a couple miles past the boundary for Lassen national Park last night. It was so amazing being able to end the day yesterday by hiking with those four guys! When Green Machine first walked by me, we said hello to each other but not much more. And I almost didn’t say anything else to him. But as he started to walk away, I think I just realized that he was hiking a lot of miles for the day and was about to be “gone”. Because I felt compelled to holler after him.

After doing that we wound up walking together for the entire rest of the day. Our pace was super similar, so it works out perfectly. It’s just funny to think that I almost didn’t yell after him. Then we linked up with all of his buddies that he was trying to catch. And it was just a really nice way to end the day. Honestly, it was heartwarming to fall in stride with a few other people. One of my favorite parts about hiking with other people is that you actually don’t always have to talk to each other. It’s so nice to talk and share stories. But sometimes it’s beautiful when silence falls over the group and no one feels the need to break it. You are all enjoying the trail and the silent hiking, together.

This morning had a beautiful silence of its own. I made great time as I hiked toward old station. And I don’t think I had any climbing to do. I got there just after 8 AM and was over 8 miles in for the day. Prior to arriving at the gas station I’d already worked out a game plan in my head. I didn’t have time to get real breakfast at the restaurant next door. It just would wind up taking forever and I would rather get to the guest ranch earlier. Instead, I could make a milkshake or two with the f’real milkshake machine. And I remember there being microwavable breakfast sandwiches and things like that at the store.

When I got there, I sprang it into action. I just didn’t want to dillydally too much. But I wanted to enjoy all aspects of the store. While I shopped around I put a milkshake in the machine to make it. If you’ve never used a f’real milkshake machine before, it’s basically just a machine that shoots warm water into a frozen cup of milkshake. So it really blends it on the spot. I made two of those and microwaved two giant hot pockets. Then I grabbed some snacks to eat over the course of the day and a turkey and cheese deli sandwich. I also grabbed a couple drinks to drink over the next 5 or 10 miles. And I got one drink to have right away.

Then I sat outside the store and began working on my feast. One of my favorite f’real milkshake flavors is mint chocolate chip. So today I got one of those and also got a brown sugar latte. I saw that at a store a while ago, but didn’t feel compelled to try it. But the latte milkshake had 100 mg of caffeine in it. Leaving old station I would have a 500 or so foot climb to do. So it would be nice to be energized by my caffeinated milkshake.

Outside, I consumed everything and also packed the rest of the stuff away. The brown sugar latte milkshake was incredible. It was just like a caramel Frappuccino or something like that. And I will definitely be looking for it in the future. I wound up wrapping a hot pocket to go to eat along the road walk. Otherwise I probably would’ve been sick. I probably ate close to 2000 calories in 15 minutes.

Leaving old station, I followed along the road briefly and then hopped back onto the trail. Then I had a couple leisurely miles to go before I would start a 500 or so foot climb. But after that, I would just be walking along Hat Creek rim for the rest of the day. So there really wouldn’t be much elevation gain. But also wouldn’t be much water.

The nice thing about thru hiking is that if you eat so much food that you feel physically sick, the cure is hiking. If you’re ever at home and you eat so much that you feel terrible you should probably just go for a short walk. It only took about 15 or 20 minutes for my body to digest everything and feel normal again. The climb up to hat creek wound up with being way more gradual than I remembered. It’s so funny recalling these climbs in northern California from 2022. I just was not nearly the hiker that I am today. Climbs that used to exhaust me then probably wouldn’t even make me bat an eye anymore. It’s just funny how your perspective changes with time.

Once I was up on the rim, I got cell service, which was very exciting. There’s nothing better than having service on a relatively flat and cruisy portion of trail. That meant I was going to have a pretty productive day today. I was also able to text Jay and let him know that I went way further than expected yesterday. So I was going to be taking his advice and trying to stay at Burney Mountain guest ranch tonight.

He gave me the number of Christine who operates the ranch. The cool thing is that apparently her and her partner love hikers. A lot of these little stops along trail are hiker friendly. But every now and then you go to some kind of a ranch or business that just is oriented toward a different clientele. Places that intentionally accommodate to hikers are a true delight.

I gave Christina a call and left a voicemail. I figured I would be there around 7:30 PM and I hoped to stay in a bed for the night. Plus, apparently there’s an all you can eat dinner and breakfast which sounds amazing. I texted Jay to let him know that I had given Christina a call. Then I got some video editing and writing done on my phone while I walked. And I was still walking over 3 mph!

The next two hours went by really quickly. I was able to make a couple phone calls and get some things posted. Since I knew I would be heading to the ranch tonight, I also had no problem running down my phone battery. These days I’ve been carrying so much extra battery power that I almost never work my way through most of it. I watched some YouTube videos as I walked and did different things like that.

This year I’ve been watching some content from the other hikers attempting the calendar year triple crown. Not all of them do social media stuff but many of them do. There’s one guy who is hiking the calendar year triple crown in his 70s! And his hope is to raise awareness of a man he knows who is wrongfully acquitted of murder and in prison. His social media is “Trek for Tarzan“. I think I first found his stuff when I was down in Florida earlier this year. Sometimes I also watch Stella hikes videos. She’s also doing the calendar year triple crown. There’s just something funny about watching the videos of someone who’s attempting the same thing as you. It’s oddly entertaining. But she actually just quit and I found that out today while I was watching my YouTube.

This year I know of six hikers who started the calendar year triple crown who have quit already. Some for injury, some because of timing, and some because of the mental aspect. There’s also a lot of crossover between all of those components and it could be a combination of a few. At the start of this year, at least 12 hikers that I know of were attempting the triple crown. And three of us are attempting the border to border triple crown. It’s pretty crazy to think about all of the things that can go wrong and how many people have already given up on their goal. It makes me a very grateful to still be here giving it my all every day.

Over the course of the day, I really didn’t stop off much at all. I did stop at one point at the next available water source. Then I topped off again at a water tank later on. I figured then I wouldn’t have to stop off again for water for the entire rest of the day. Plus, I would rather have too much water than too little in the section where there really aren’t any sources.

Eventually, the trail dropped off of the rim and began descending back into a more forested area. The timing was pretty dang good too because right around this time some afternoon thunderstorm started rolling in. There have been afternoon thunderstorms almost every day for the last few days. Most of the time it has hardly rained and mostly just gets darker and a little bit cool. And there’s been a whole lot of thunder. But as of now I haven’t seen any lightning, at least as I’ve been on the trail. That started up again today and it rained lightly. But never really turned into anything too bad.

The thing that scares me the most about the storms is fire. Lightning strike is the cause of a significant amount of the forest fire in this part of the country. And this time in 2022 Northern California got absolutely ravaged by forest fire. I’m really just trying to make it through the rest of California and southern Oregon before it gets bad.

Eventually, I got further down into the forest. Then the trail went over a dam and by a hatchery. I remembered this section from the last time I was here. It felt like the entire trail today was so nice and easy. That’s a really great change of pace. And considering the fact that I’m going 41 miles today, is it nice that those 41 miles don’t have to be incredibly hard!

As I got closer to Burney Mountain guest ranch, I did eventually have to do one final climb. But I think it was only a couple hundred feet and was over very quickly. I was excited to go uphill because I knew it would be the last time for the day. Then I continued along a little bit longer before I started to see signs for the ranch. It’s only about .2 miles off trail, which is pretty incredible.

I had made great time over the course of the day and it was before 7:30 PM when I arrived. As I was walking up to the main building at the ranch I heard a voice call out “Peg Leg?” It was Christine who operates the  guest ranch. That was one of those moments where you just feel so taken care of. Something about having her come right up to me when I arrived just felt really special. It was so nice to meet Christine. She was absolutely delightful. She ran into their little store and grabbed me a soda. Then asked if I wanted to eat dinner.

I was starving so the idea of dinner was very exciting. We headed inside to the main building and there were at least a dozen hikers sitting inside. Some were playing pool and others were wrapping up eating dinner. There had been salad and burgers and potato wedges for dinner. There was even a big Mac type sauce for the burger and fries. I had a massive salad which was so delicious. Then had a burger, fries, and macaroni salad. Everything was so good. Christine looked over toward me with so much care in her eyes. Like she was concerned about how hungry I had been when I arrived. I made a comment about the fact that I hadn’t stopped off very much for the day and she nodded in agreement. Knowing just how far I’d come for the day.

After I ate everything, Christine asked if I wanted ice cream. Then she headed into the kitchen to ask the woman who was cooking. When she came back, she said that the chef had wanted to make me something special for dessert. She came back with zucchini bread with a layer of cream cheese on top. Then there was a pile of soft serve ice cream on top of the bread. That was hands-down, the most incredible dessert that I’ve ever had. I think I will be daydreaming about that for the entire rest of my life. The soft serve itself was probably some of the best I’ve ever tried. I could’ve eaten an infinite amount of it.

After I ate, Christine showed me to the bunk house. There were a couple different bunk rooms and only one person in each room, which was really nice. I chose a bed by an electrical outlet in the corner of one of the rooms. Then got things together so I could take a shower. Lately the trail has just been so dirty. It feels so good to shower and get off all of the dirt and ash. And over the last two days I went about 80 miles. So I was pretty sweaty and disgusting.

In the shower, I even washed my socks and gaiters. I figured even if they weren’t completely dry in the morning, it would still be better than putting them back on dirty. Then I got all of my electronics charging and sorted through my stuff. I contemplated going back to the house to hang out with everyone. I had talked to a bunch of hikers inside the guest ranch who were super nice. One couple I actually met on my first day on the PCT at the store by Lake Morena. Another guy and his girlfriend were camped at the same campground as me in Aguadulce, with the 50 other hikers in the bubble. It was so cool to see some familiar faces.

But at this point in time, it was already after 8:30 PM and I was exhausted from the 41 mile day. Plus I had a lot of stuff to get done in terms of writing and editing. I opted to just lay down and start getting some video work done if I could. I also needed to upload some things, which I could just do passively after I went to bed. If I turn things on to upload and then just leave my phone on then it’ll do it all while I sleep. Like always, I wound up staying up way too late. But I don’t have to be up super early tomorrow morning. Breakfast is at 7 AM and it’s buffet style, so I’m definitely going to stick around for that.

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