July 15th, 2016
Miles Hiked: 19
Starting Location: 1265
End Location: 1284
End Location GPS: 40.00923, -121.22983
We started with another climb from Bucks Summit after making a deposit at the outhouse. It’s weird how I’ll hold my bowels even though I really need to go just to use a crappy outhouse and not have to squat over a hole while I poo.
Today was hot again. I got phone service much of the day once we reached the ridge and decided to check the weather at some point. It said it was 100 degrees in Beldan, the town we were descending to as we steadily dropped from 7 to 2k feet. I guess we picked a good day because yesterday it was hotter at 109. The day before it was 113. Have we taken a wrong turn and somehow ended up in the Mojave again?
We got into Beldan just before 4. We had a package sent to local trail Angels the Braatens. We called them when we got to the store/ restaurant, the only building in the whole town. Mrs. Braaten collected us and brought us to her home a mile up the road, which has a neat little side building where hikers are welcome to stay, with several beds and a shower and full kitchen. A welcome end to the day.
It’s just starting to cool off at near 9:00 PM, but it is hot inside our room. The crickets chirp their end of day tunes over the quick rattling of the Feather River to our immediate south. Some cars pass by on the road with thier rumbling engines and wheels that spin and hug the asphalt as they make a sharp turn towards town. I wonder where they are going and where they have come from. They could be out for a quick drive or may be nearing the end of a multi hour slog. They could be going home or just heading out, to buy some dinner or milk or collect a pack of cigarettes or a case of beer for the night, to relax at home and watch that movie they Tivoed that they have been meaning to watch, or simply sit on the front porch, in the dark under the stars, dreaming of something else they’d rather be doing with thier lives.
