A couple days ago, we started the most interesting section of Northern California so far. It was a pretty infamous section because people either love it or hate it. Love it because it’s one of the most beautiful section on top of an escarpment with views of Mount Lassen and Mount Shasta. Hate it because it’s one of the hottest and most exposed section In Northern California. I guess we will find out how we react to it when we actually do it.

This section starts at the Burney Mountain Guest Ranch, which was an amazing kick off to this section. We hiked 8 miles there for dinner from Burney falls, a beautiful state park water falls.

Just taking pictures of people taking pictures

I was more than excited to arrive there when I found out that they were serving brisket that night. I think one of the biggest regret on this trail is not taking an third extra helping of brisket.

The people at the ranch were beyond incredibly kind, we got free home made ice cream when we got in and dinner was in full service with all the food you could possibly eat.

the whole thing is a honour system, where you just write down the service you opt in for and the items you bought from the general store, which was really bad because I was eating so many ice cream without thinking about it because it felt like free when you don’t pay for it right away.

Of course I had to get up at 1am for this! Worth it!

We camped in their beautiful front yard and woke up to amazing breakfast prepared early just for hikers. At around 7:30, we headed out on trail, belly full and ready to embrace all the pestilences the day has to throw at us.

Mosquito Swarms

The first of the challenges was the swarms of Mosquitoes hanging around a place called Crystal Lake. Yet I thought Jason was going to be the problem. The natural bug spray we had had no effect at all.

So bad that we started running to get away from the lake and stream. I was in front of Carmen and the rest of the group was behind her. There was a stone hopping stream crossing and I jumped over them like a gazelle, motivated by the mosquitoes. Carmen was not so quick. As she slowly stepped over one stone at a time, the guys behind groaned in agony and annoyance as the mosquitoes zoned in on the slow moving targets. Carmen screamed “I AM MOVING AS FAST AS I CAN” as everyone yelled at her to go faster. 😂

Blistering heat

We finally got away from the mosquitoes hangout but then the sun slowly sauntered higher as we hiked on. At first, we were flying up the hill with the fuel of caffeine. Once that ran out though, it became a bit miserable as we couldn’t stop because of the lingering mosquitoes and hiking has became tougher and tougher as we went on.

Carmen on her caffeine crazed hike

I forgot to mention that there was no water for 16 miles or so and it’s all uphill. With some determination, I made it up the final uphill, less than a mile away from the water source. I turned a corner and saw two trucks parked on the side of the trail, a awning stretched out with no road in sight. I was in a bit of disbelief as it seemed so out of place. One of the guy called out “you want a beer?” which was met with the “hell Yea!”

The other hikers trickled in and we hung out the whole afternoon, us sharing trail stories and drinking beers with the two buddies who came out camping for a weekend.

Thank you to Mike and Shooter for the generosity!

Time for Rain

Soon, we realized that we have another problem. The clouds in the horizon looked like death and its speedily approaching. So we reluctantly left the comfort of the cooler and lawn chairs and hiked on to our planned campsite. Which is a communication tower at the top of the hill.

Lost looking inspirational while waiting to start hiking

When we got there, we realize it’s a terrible place to camp in the train since it’s at a high point and the ground was hard to stake in.

So we started hiking forward, looking for a flat piece of ground. This was made urgent by the rolling thunder in the distance.

Finally, we decided to stop at a spot with tall grass with cow poop since there’s no better options.

Setting up

Hurriedly I settled on my spot and started setting up my flat tarp. Since the wind was coming in hard from one direction, I decided to set up my tarp in a flying diamond pitch. The wind was blowing rain against my tarp so I was nice and dry as it started to rain hard. Soon I fell asleep, tired from the day.

The Midnight Scramble

Two hours of sleep later, I woke up and found my sleeping bag wet on one side. Oh no, the wind changed direction. I all of a sudden realized how badly my decision is to pitch it this way evidenced by the wet sleeping bag. The rain and wind are not waning at all so I had to do something.

With much reluctance, I put on my shoes and rain jacket and stepped out into the cold and rain. I started to repitch my tarp into a traditional A frame by modifying the current set up. The trick is keeping everything still covered from the rain as I do this. I started to shiver right away as the cold rain touches the exposed parts of my body – and it made tying knots a lot harder. To my surprise, I managed to pitch a pretty great A frame given the conditions. It would’ve been pretty embarrassing to ask to sleep in someone else’s tent. 😂 Oh well, lesson learned for next time.

The next morning, I woke up at 4:30 to a cloudy but rain free sky and decided I wanted to get going before it started to rain again. So I spent half a hour picking out the needle like grass out of my socks and packed away my stuff.

After the storm

Sleepy and tired, all I thought about was getting to town to the hot breakfast at the cafe. I mindlessly started to walk.

Clouds are still looming ominously in the distance

Without the rain, sun and mosquitoes, I started to fully absorb the views. I soon realized how beautiful this section is. In the morning light, with the clouds adding drama to the scene.

The distant Mount Shasta looks beautiful in the high contrast light of the morning sun.

Mount Lassen shrouded by cloud, only showing off the snow capped top.

The wild flowers more vibrant after the rain, creating a canvas of purple, yellow and red.

Mount Shasta

So was this section good or bad? I guess it was pretty bad if you considered the blistering heat, mosquitoes and getting soaked from a thunder storm. But we don’t define something by the hardship we encounter. We define good or bad by the beauty, laughter and human kindness. I won’t forget this section and the reminder that chasing beauty through the hardship is always good.