Since we had to wait for the Belden post office to open, I “slept in” till 6:30, then got up to see about making coffee for all the hikers.  When I walked into the kitchen, I discovered that the Braatens had left two big platters of watermelon slices and fresh chocolate zucchini muffins. So I snagged a muffin while hunting for coffee supplies.  Everything was there except filters…so I improvised with toilet paper!  It worked fine, and as various sleepy, tousled hikerheads emerged from their various spots, they were very happy to see hot coffee!  But for thruhikers, a muffin, watermelon and coffee are just an appetizer, not a serious breakfast,  so pretty soon we were all making the 0.25 mile trek down the road to the Caribou Restaurant for big HOT breakfasts.  Before we left, though, I washed all the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen, while Bill talked to Mr. Braaten about gold mining. 

Turns out that the Little Haven property does include a gold mine!!!–BUT there are so many government rules now about how you can mine and all the procedures and equipment, that ordinary folks like Mr. & Mrs. B can’t afford to mine on their own property.  And this is the case for many of the small goldminers along the Feather River.  Their operations are all shut down.  Only the “big guys” who can afford the required equipment are allowed to continue.  Mr. B said that a few “little guys” have banded together and are sharing equipment.  Good for them!  But to add insult to injury, now the US Fish & Game department has decided they will no longer plant fish in the Feather River.  The result is that there are very few fish, and those few are wild, wary and hard to catch.  So the Feather River canyon has gone from being a busy, prosperous place (goldmining and fishing) to a place that’s barely surviving, thanks to government regulations.  Grrrrr!

Once the kitchen was all cleaned up, Bill and I walked the quarter mile down the road to the Caribou Cafe.  We had the “Hiker Special” breakfast–really good!  The place was filled with other hikers, and what was interesting—nobody ordered coffee; instead we were all having fresh fruit milkshakes!  Awesome!  We walked back and went hunting for Mrs. B so that we could get a ride to the post office.  Turned out she was working on building a retaining wall behind her very thriving vegetable garden (so that’s where the yellow summer squash came from that we ate last night!) 

At the post office, which is basically the enclosed front porch of a house, we were greatly relieved to find our box waiting.  It had everything we needed, so all I had to do was divvy up the food and put it in our food bags.  We wasted no time then in heading back to the trail, still disappointed because we’d hoped for an early start in the cool of the morning. It was 10:30 am before we were able to start, the day was already hot, and it’s a 14 mile long 5,000+ foot climb up out of Belden, at first going up the Chips Creek canyon, then on up into the mountains.  There was no shade for some time, because the canyon had a forest fire a few years ago, and there are no trees left in the fire’s path.

The trail at first was in much better shape than 2005–no need to literally fight your way through the bushes while feeling for the trail with your feet!   It was  a hot day (I put up my umbrella for shade to hike under!), but many creeks crossed our path– at one of them a hiker was pouring water over herself!  I didn’t try to hike too fast, because I knew from experience that this is one LOOOOONG climb up.  Chips Creek nearby was very pretty, cascading and roaring down the canyon.  The trail had obviously been worked on, with all blowdowns cleared, and the trail tread very nice.  Finally we came to a sign that said, “This section of the trail was maintained by the California Backcountry Horsemen.”  THANKYOU!! 

But just beyond the sign, oh my! We were once again climbing over and around blowdowns, fording creeks, and even dealing with a bit of snow. Sometimes it was hard to figure out where the trail went.  And some of the creeks were so deeply gullied by snowmelt runoff that it was hard to get across–we had to climb down steep, eroded creekbanks, cross the creek, then climb up the other side.  It was a mess, but we persevered, with a plan of stopping for water at Poison Spring, which is totally misnamed–the water there is wonderful, and it’s actually not too far from the top of the big climb.

By suppertime, we were up at the top. It’s a rocky ridge with amazing views.  Mt. Lassen to the north was surrounded by impressive thunderclouds, and when we looked south, there were more thunderclouds behind us!  Overhead, the sky was a gorgeous blue.  We were sitting near the trail enjoying our food, when  a number of young guys passed us– they were on a tear to be in Chester tomorrow night!   I’m sure they’ll make it–in fact, Bill and I figure we should be at the Chester road by tomorrow night, too.

Today was kind of tough, with the late start, the heat, the uphills, and then the messed up part of the trail.  The mosquitoes got pretty bad by 6 pm, so when we stopped for the day, we set up the net tent, and now they are whining and humming all around us, trying to get in.  We’re up on another rocky ridge, with a very pretty orange sunset.  One nice thing was, I had NO back hip problem today because it was all uphill.  I took one Motrin when we first started, and didn’t need any more after that.  Tomorrow the trail will go up and down, so we’ll see how I do.  Looking forward to heading into Lassen!

Walk to Rauros: West bank near Amon Hen

Tags: Belden, Braatens, Caribou Restaurant, Chester, Chips Creek