Day 103

Burney mountain guest ranch to rock creek - 15.1 miles

Total - 1426.3 miles

Ughhhhh this is the first time I haven’t wanted to go hike. After not having a bed for so long and getting one, I don’t want to give it up at all for a pad the deflates. It was slow morning, did some laundry finally, grabbed breakfast, felt like I was gonna throw up again from too much food as usually I can’t put down food like I do when I first get off trail into a town. Moseyed my way back to the bunk beds and was able to scroll for a good solid minute, giggling my little ass off at the stupidest reels on Instagram. I did take a shower before all the reel scrolling so I was clean, eepy, and entertained. Around 10, it was time to get moving and pack up the very messy room. Did that and headed out to the pool but then forgot that I needed to call the post office as I needed to bump my foam pad the parents sent me as it wasnt there when we were in town. The postmaster woman was a lil gremlin. One worded answers, wasn’t nice, and just overall gave a horrible vibe. Last time I bumped a box, the woman was super sweet and knew what she was doing. It felt like I was making her do a chore on the phone for this one. She asked for a zip code and I was like I’m not sure what it is, I want to send it to Shasta, but I can look it up. She responded with “well I ain’t gonna do it.” Ma’am this is your job. I am happy to do it but goddamnit be nicer about it. Anyways, I was able to bump it to Shasta but the other part was she didn’t even give me a tracking number and when she confirmed she was gonna bump it, all she said was bye. Hoping I actually have a pad in Shasta. I also forgot I bought nectarines in Burney so I was mucking like 6 nectarines and then gave three to the guys like the kind soul I am. Finally, we had to say goodbye to rocklicker who we will meet in Shasta after he hangs out with his dad until Saturday. At 11, we hit the trail to go the 9 miles to Burney falls state park. Nothing really exciting to report in these 9 miles as it was dusty, and hot. I was cruising though. No burn zone, just me and the trees. Caleb caught up before heading into the state park where we found a shaded picnic table and ate lunch which consisted of sausage, cheese, and bagels. Always so good on trail. We then headed to the general store to buy two cold bevs (Gatorade and an Arizona iced tea). We hung out at the picnic table when Ben showed up as well as spiffy who we met a couple days ago! She convinced us to buy postcards so I sent one to the good ole parents! Need to send more out honestly as it’s just another way to remember the trail. I did buy a sticker as well to put either in my junk journal or on the bear can when I get it back again. Rocklicker and his dad showed up and we got to meet him. His dads hilarious as within seconds of meeting him he called his son stinky as well as a gimp lol. Love a good roast. We eventually made our way down to the falls and chilled there for a lil before the crowds became overwhelming. It’s weird as I am so used to hikers and how hikers act that now I can’t stop staring at the muggles. It’s interesting how you can pick up now what people value in life while on trail just on how someone acts. There was a woman having a solo picnic just looking at the falls while two woman were posing scandalously while one of their husbands was the photo guy. Most people just come and look at the falls for 5 minutes max and leave. Some swim while others play on the rocks. While I am happy people have access to the wilderness especially for older folks and wheelchair users, it seems like people are just there for the photos. I know I have been in the past obviously as most people are these days but being out on trail for so long makes you appreciate literally everything from access to water to a cold beverage to a nice bed to just being outdoors in nature. It’s hard to take in everything while out here as we still have a deadline and we can’t stop at every spot to reminisce because we do need to make miles but it still changes your mindset. Highly recommend people read braiding sweetgrass as it puts all this into words a lil better. Cherish the simple things basically. Anyways, that’s enough sappy shit. The crowds were so overwhelming that we needed to leave. We said goodbye to spiffy as she is getting off trail for a lil to go to a funeral before going to complete the sierras which she missed in 2023 (HUGE snow year). Being back on trail felt good, my feet still hurt but nothing too concerning. The pains always move around the foot, day to day, which is my new reality. I did step weirdly I think and my ankle started hurting but that quickly went away. We finally made it to the bridge and water but there were not great camping spots so we pushed onto the dirt road which we were promised on far out that just to the right was an amazing swimming hole. We found it and were VERY pleased. Probably one of the best swimming holes we have found but too bad we got there pretty late as we spent 3 hours at Burney falls and not swimming. That didn’t stop us from getting in. Washed off the feet as they are always covered in filth and then went to go set up my tent. Ground was too hard to put any stakes in so the tent is a lil looser than normal. I wasn’t too hungry, as for some reason I was feeling a lil queasy. The feeling like you are full but you haven’t eaten in awhile so I decided to just lay down and only eat a Garnola bar. I bought the Lara trail mix bars and they are kinda ass but they were 99¢ so I kinda got what I paid for lol. A guy in a truck stopped by and warned us that he had killed two rattle snakes here recently so we need to watch out for them. Back in rattle snack country. Yay…. Not a super early night but ready to hit the hay.

Rocklicker told me early in the day that he got trail magic while trying to hitch up to Burney mountain resort in old station. He was limping through a trailor park area, when a family spotted him and gave him some food consisting of saltines, canned tuna, watermelon, and two raw potatoes. Why the fuck would you give someone raw potatoes. More importantly why would rocklicker eat 1.5 raw potatoes, skin on. I was GIGGLING and GAGGLING bc wtf. I wasn’t even sure you could eat them as I thought it was toxic for humans raw with skin but we looked it up and the trusty AI told us he was safe. That was a new low for sure on trail. True hiker trash.