We set our alarms for 6AM this morning and were surprised to wake up to discover it was chilly this morning! We even started out hiking in our down jackets it was so cool. It was a nice change from the hot days and warm nights we’ve been having lately.
After about a mile and a half we entered Lassen Volcanic National Park. The PCT winds through 19 miles of the Park. They just recently changed the rules to require a bear canister for any overnight camping in the park. We sent our bear canisters ahead to the Sierras so we plan to just walk the 19 miles through the park in one day, as most thru hikers do.
The first portion of our morning was spent walking through a burn area, with many tall but bare and burnt trees. Not much shade, so I was glad to be walking through here when the temperatures were still cooler. After 10 miles we came to a beautiful lake and took a break. It reminded us of the AT in Maine in some ways. I washed my legs and Wolf Bird took a dip. He reported the water was relatively warm. Before we got walking again, I was complaining about not having bought enough candy. Wolf Bird very selflessly gave me a pack of skittles he had! I knew I was keeping him around for something!
Much of our walking today was pretty flat, which was enjoyable and easy. We stopped for lunch at a campground and chatted with Phil, who is also hiking southbound and reminds us a bit of Google from the AT. After a long leisurely lunch we had 9 miles to our destination for the evening. They flew by. We passed a mom and daughter on horseback on the trail and also encountered some trail magic! It was a cooler that was mostly empty but did have some hard candies leftover which we snagged some of.
We arrived at camp around 630 and are set up next to a nice river with quite a few other hikers, all going north except for Phil from earlier. It was a pretty day today and also mostly painless and enjoyable walking. Wolf Bird said he thought it was one of his best days on trail!