Day 82

Mile 1404
23 Miles
The night was so hot I didn't even bother getting my sleeping bag out .It would be a quicker pack up in the morning any way. I used my tarp like a sheet and curled up on the my sleeping pad for the night at about 9 pm, it was still in the 80s. After sleeping ~5 hours, we got up at 2:30 AM and started walking just before 3 to try to beat the heat through the dry section and not repeat the awfulness that was yesterday afternoon.

 There was a 0.3 mile trail that dropped 500 feet down the edge of the rim to a small creek where we filled up with water for the next 22 miles of the dry section. Lots of frogs. We picked up an extra liter on top of what we thought we'd need because we knew it would be hot, which made the packs heavier but was much safer.

 We watched the stars fade and the moon fall. We passed 5 people sleeping on the side of the trail.

 First bit of light hitting Mt Lassen.

 Pictures don't really do it justice, my phone isn't great in low light situations.

 Beautiful rim walk to watch the sunrise.

 Mt Shasta appearing from the gloom.

 This would be a beautiful walk in the spring.

 Mt Shasta

 It was already well into the 80's by 6 AM.

We did 7 miles by 7 AM. We ran into a trail angel (Coppertone) on a forest road. He was set up in an RV for the week providing water and fruit and root beer floats. It was the best root beer float I've ever had in my life.

 It was definitely well into the 90's by 10 AM.

 The heat started to slow me down and I was only moving a bit over 1 mile an hour with 5 miles left.

 So hot. The wind was hot. The ground was hot. My water was hot. Everything, hot, hot, hot........

 ...........felt like trying to walk in a convection oven. Definitely hit 100 degrees.

 1400 mile mark!

 Awful.

2 miles left

This shade-less stretch made me cry. Which I wasn't happy about, I didn't want to lose more water and salt but I couldn't help it, it was incredibly miserable. I had to stop to cool off in the shade and eat cheese about every 1/2 mile or less.

 The hyrdoelectric plant at the river!! Water! Finally! Didn't make it until 3:30 pm. We hung out in the shade and drank lots of water soaked our hot feet and ate snacks and decided what to do next. Hiking in this heat felt dumb and miserable. We were able to get just enough service to text Emily's mom a few times only to find out it was supposed to get hotter! She contacted some of Emily's relatives who live in the Shasta area to possibly stay with in a 100 miles or so.Maybe we could take a zero or wait out the heat for a few days. Emily's grandmother's sister's daughter's husband is a police officer.He called a  police officer friend down in the Burney area to pick us up from the hydroelectric plant and bring us into town while they drove down to pick us up.

We were super surprised when a police cruiser came to pick us up! We had lost service and didn't even know if we were going to be able to stay with her folks or if we were just going to hitch into Burney,find a motel  for the night and figure things out in the morning. All we knew was that it wasn't worth it to be out in the heat and night hiking for the next week. It didn't sound like fun.

We were dropped at a Safeway, bought popsicles, juice and strawberries. We shared the popsicles with Sparkle Toes and Poodle Dog.When Emily's awesome relatives showed up we gave Sparkle Toes and Poodle Dog a ride 8 miles down the trail to Burney Falls State Park so they wouldn't have to walk it that night.

I'm updating the blog while sitting on a couch in air conditioning (which is an amazing invention). Incredibly grateful for the shower and place to stay while we wait out the heat and figure out what to do next. We made pie again and are resting up while we wait for it to cool down.