Fri. Sept. 16       Miles today: 7.1          Total so far: 2,210.4      No. CA Section N

Bill and I both had a very comfortable night in the tepee at Belden Resort.  The roar of the river close by plus the occasional rumbling and squeaking of a passing freight train were for me very soothing.  If you like trains, you will love Belden!  At 8:00, Bill and I were ready for breakfast at the main resort building which is a combo restaurant, saloon with pool hall, office, and store.  Bill was feeling better and was thinking of maybe toast for breakfast, with a soda to wash it down.  I was thinking pancakes!  The nice folks at the resort let me get a can of peaches from the store to dump over my pancakes in addition to syrup and butter.  Bill changed his mind and had pancakes, too–and was able to eat them.  Then he went back and lay down in the tepee to rest some more while I headed for the post office.

The walk to the post office was a bit scary in places with narrow road shoulders and big trucks whizzing by.  Yikes!  But the PO itself was a kick–it’s in one of three ramshackle houses that look like they were built out of stuff that came floating down the river, plus they have junk lying everywhere and a lot of dogs that set up a huge ruckus when I came walking up the driveway.  The “PO Boxes” are on the house porch, and the post office itself is a tiny room inisde.  Our box was waiting, and the PO lady told me that there ARE trail angels in Belden who help hikers, but only in summer, since they are school teachers and have closed up their cabin now and returned to town.  Oh well.  I carried our box back along the river to the resort, sorted out all the food, went “shopping” at the store, finished my writing, loaded packs, then Bill and I had one last big juicy hamburger each before heading out.  Bill did finish his burger, but said he could just barely manage the last several bites.  He also said he would have to hike very slowly, and still felt tired and weak, but was determined to try, even though the first thing we have to face is 13 miles of uphill with a total of over 4,000 feet elevation gain.

So we crossed the highway and headed up the PCT on a sunny, windy afternoon, with large gray and white clouds blowing in fast.  The wind kept us cool as we slowly began the climb, AND it blew away all the annoying little flies.  We were hiking through what USED TO be a shady greeen forest, but is now blackened tree trunks and post-fire weeds.    For some time, the trail contoured above the river, and there were some beautiful views.  Bill was taking it very slow and easy, stopping to rest every time he started to feel tired.  (However, every time he said, “I need to stop and rest”, I didn’t let him sit down till I had scanned the ground for poison oak–it was everywhere!) 

Getting through that forest fire area was, quite frankly, awful.  The brush had grown in with a vengeance, and we found ourselves pushing through tangles of bushes taller than we were, that had completely overgrown the trail, plus having to climb over fallen, burned trees.  This section REALLY needs a trail crew!  At 5:30, we had reached Myrtle Flat, and stopped for supper, but Bill again said he could not eat.  All he did was drink some lemonade, while I ate a couple of cheese sandwiches.  Just as we were finishing up and getting ready to head on, it began to rain!  Bill said, “I am so tired.  I don’t want to hike in rain.  Let’s just camp here.”  So up went the tarp, and soon we had a dry, cozy VERY EARLY camp underneath it.  The rain was very pleasant, not a heavy downpour, and I hoped it would be done by morning.

Bill went right to bed in his sleeping bag and fell asleep almost right away.  But he was looking better–the color was back in his face, instead of white and pale as he looked yesterday.  I could only trust God that he would be OK and that we would make it to Old Station, now only 81 miles away.

Thurs. Sept. 15        Miles today: 17.6                   Total so far: 2,203.3 miles      No. CA Section M   Belden

Bill had a rough night last night.  He felt awful, with some sort of stomach cramps, which finally went away, but I don’t think he (or I) got much sleep.  Since Bill felt so sick last night, we basically had just crawled into our sleeping bags, with no tarp–the result was this morning our sleeping bags were covered with dew.  Bill looked very pale and said he felt extremely weak and tired.  He only ate a few mouthfuls for breakfast and said he felt too nauseous to have any more.   Our hiking pace was reduced to “very slow”, since Bill felt too weak to walk at anything like our normal pace.  But we did succeed in following the old road all the way to the top of Spanish Peak, and we got a great view of Mt. Lassen up ahead, which made us both cheer!  We love Mt. Lassen–that’s where we first tried this amazing activity called “backpacking.”

After Spanish Peak, the PCT was mostly running through a very messy, trashy forest–hope they don’t get a lightning strike in there!  What a forest fire that would set up!  Groan!  But there was one interesting thing about it–almost all the trees look like a demented giant reached down and painted them a bright chartreuse green down to about 10 feet above the ground.  Very weird–but apparently that shows the depth of the snow around here.

Eventually we hiked by (high above) more pretty lakes.  Silver Lake had a perfect forested little island.  If we were camped there, a swim out to the island would be a MUST.  I tried to cheer myself with thinking about how fun that would be to do, but I was more and more worried about Bill.  Usually we stop for a rest break once in the morning and once in the afternoon, but he is so wiped out that he had to stop frequently, not to “rest” but to just plain collapse.  In spite of the frequent stops, we managed to reach the crest, where the PCT is a sandy trail through chaparral, and then at last we came to the big downhill to Belden.  It began with long switchbacks through the chaparral, among wonderful rock formations, some of which plunged right over the edge of the river canyon. 

Partway down we stopped for lunch.  I was starving, but Bill could not face eating anything.  All he could do was drink one cup of lemonade and another cup of Emer-gen-C.  He looked very pale.  Another backpacker came by and welcomed the chance to rest and chat with us.  He was from the Midwest, and wished he could live here in California, but couldn’t afford it.  We enjoyed talking to him, and I think it cheered up Bill a bit.  After lunch, we headed down to Belden, Bill first, because he said “Downhills are easier for me–I just let the gravity take me down.  If I go first, I can go fast and not worry about crashing into you.”  Well, the gravity pull must have been working well, because soon he was way out ahead.  I was moving right along, too, but I did slow down occasionally to look at views, till the shady woods took over the trail and the views ended.  Shade was a good thing–it was a very warm afternoon!

Near the bottom of the canyon, I heard th sound of an approaching train, louder and louder, but I could not SEE any railroad tracks.  Then suddenly, there was the train, right BELOW me!  That’s one of the few times i’ve had a bird’s eye view of a train!   Bill was waiting where the trail crossed the tracks, sitting in the shade and watching the train go by.  I joined him, and then…the train STOPPED.  We dared not try to climb between the rail cars to reach the trail on the other side, since we had no idea when the train might start again.  So we just sat and rested and waited till the train got going again and the tracks were clear.  From there it was a short walk into Belden Resort. 

The first thing we did was see if we could get a room for the night, but the staff guy said, “Sorry, we’re full up…unless you’d be OK with the tepee.”  Hey, a tepee is just a big tent–we could handle that.  So we put our packs inside the tepee and went to get something to eat.  But poor Bill could only manage a few bites of his juicy hamburger before he had to put it down.  “I just can’t eat,” he said.  So I finished my hamburger AND his, too.  As we ate, we were having a great converstation with another newly-retired couple who were touring California on a MOTORCYCLE!  They thought what we were doing was incredibly brave, and I felt the same about them!  No way would I dare try riding those mountain roads on a motorcycle!

After that, we went down to the Feather River to “sloosh off”, since no showers were available.   Then Bill took one of the foam pads that serve as “beds” in the tepee, and lay down outside in the shade of a tree, while I went off to do laundry and writing.  Then I was hungry again, so I went alone to eat, since Bill said he could no way face eating anything.  Needless to say, at this point I was praying for him like crazy.  I could not figure out what was wrong.  He had no fever, no sore throat, no “runny tummy”, no flu symptoms of any kind.  He just had no strength and couldn’t face food, only drink a little bit. 

When it finally got dark, I went to bed in the tepee on a very comfortable foam pad, serenaded by the river and the train going by.  Bill was sound asleep, and he seemed to be sleeping well, thank God.  There was no repeat of last night’s cramps and misery.