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Day 110 – 10 Jul 19. Volcanic Park Tourist and Longest Day

Today 43.5 km (27.0 mi), Total Distance 2210.0 km (1373.2 mi) 11 hours 10 minutes (0715-1825)

I had a restless night with the whine of the mosquitos keeping me tense.

After packing up I walked back to the trail and back along the trail to the Lassen Volcanic National Park boundary. From there the trail continued in the forest, firstly flat then up and over a small hill before reaching the junction to Terminal Geyser.

This was only 0.3 miles off trail so I turned off the PCT and followed the trail downhill to the Geyser. It wasn’t actually a geyser but was an impressive steam vent. As I approached I saw steam coming off a small stream and then turned the corner and saw the column of steam. There was another smaller one next to it.

I headed back up to the trail and climbed up a small hill, through an open patch of the big yellow flowers before dropping down to the next intersection.

Here I once again went off trail onto the Boiling Lake Circuit. This trail led me around a small lake which was a milky grey colour and had steam coming off it. At the south west corner there were some small holes in the ground and I could hear the water bubbling within them. The trail then climbed slightly so I had a great view of the whole lake and the mountain in the background. The whole circuit only took 15 minutes and was well worth the side trip.

Now it was another couple of miles to Drakesbad which was a resort where hikers can stay, get a meal or shower.

I continued past it and met an American section hiker who said he owned a station near Arthurs Pass in New Zealand. He mentioned the name at the end of the conversation and I had actually been on this station when in the Army.

After a small section of boardwalk I climbed away from the stream, through a really busy campground and then started climbing up a big hill. It started to get rocky but then went back into the forest.

I passed several crews doing Forest Conservation work, thinning the trees and undergrowth to reduce the impact of fires.

I started dropping slightly, crossed a river over a big log and then started climbing again. There were a couple of small patches of snow over the trail but all of them you could go around if you needed. Defiantly much less than I had been led to believe from reports.

The trail climbed again and I passed a couple of hikers out for an overnight hike. It was a steepish uphill when I caught them and I felt bad at how quickly I breezed past, without puffing when they were gasping for breath. The advantage of 3 months of hiking.

Now the trail dropped down the other side, past Swan Lake and to Lower Twin Lake. I saw another deer here. I went off trail 20 meters and found a nice log to sit on at the edge of the lake too have lunch at. I was loving the view of the lake and watching the geese grazing near by.

After lunch was a short section of forest then I emerged into an area badly damaged by fire. It was now 5 miles surrounded by dead trees in the heat of the sun, with no water. There were heaps of birds and crickets/grasshoppers.

After 5 miles I arrived at a creek and started filtering water. There was another hiker there but he was sitting in a strange spot and I had already set up in a comfortable spot to filter the water so we only had a brief conversation before he continued.

I caught up to him 2 miles later at the Lassen Volcanic National Park boundary. I had been surprised that the park was not more volcanic. Apart from the steam vent and boiling lake it was just forest.

Now it was down hill, through a short open area before entering planation forest. Not long into the forest there was some trail magic. There were some small bottles of water and a box with books, wet wipes, body spray and another small box with the log book and a large bag of condoms – hmmm.

Now it was a very gentle downhill through the trees to the river. I sat down on a log for a rest and a couple of day hikers went past. They commented that I was early for a PCT hiker.

I continued on and it was now pretty flat. There were a few sandy patches which were hard work this late in the day. I was starting to get a little tired.

After a short but steep climb up an escarpment it was downhill, across a road and I found a flat campsite. Conveniently there was a nice tree with long branches for my bear bag. Much better than the stumpy branches I have had to deal with at most of my campsites.

As I was having dinner a hiker went past and he recognised me. We had shared a hitch from Lone Pine with him continuing on to Reno for some time off trail before restarting north of the sierras.

There were some mosquitos but they left me alone as I was cleaning off the dirt from my legs and feet.

When I checked my distance I realised that this was my longest distance covered in a day on trail.

Visits: 484

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