Day 102, July 28: Mile 1458 to 1485
Start: Gold Creek - Mile 1458.1
End: Squaw Valley Creek - Mile 1484.6
Miles: 26.5
Ascent: 4847 | Descent: 7518
I decided hiking so early in the pre-dawn darkness freaked me out just a bit too much, so I started my day at 5am instead of 4. The sky started to lighten just a few minutes after I started hiking- perfect. I cruised along a ridgeline and watched the sky slowly ooze pink and orange to the south. After a few small hills to climb over, I started the first of two big descents for the day. Overall the morning hiking felt relatively easy and the miles came quickly- a nice change for once!
After 13 miles, I came to the McCloud River, where an abandoned Forest Service camp sat. The main artery of the river was a disgusting sediment-filled light brown color, but luckily there was a smaller creek feeding into it that was clear and cold. I went and sat down next to the river, filtering water, soaking my feet, and eating breakfast. It was a truly lovely break spot. The water was perfectly icy and I could feel the swelling in my foot start to die down a bit. The sun just barely showed through the trees above and reflected off the water onto the the leaves above. I watched in awe as a small bird (maybe some type of wren?) gave itself the cutest and most thorough bird bath in the calm waters of the bank. Water striders flitted across the surface and I watched tiny fish hover near my feet. All in all, this breakfast break made me feel grateful to still be out here, to still be pushing forward, and it put me in a pretty good mood for the rest of day.
I stayed relatively upbeat, despite the predicted heat of the day, which did indeed come. I reached the bottom of the bid descent around 12pm and was looking at starting a 2,000 foot climb at that time. The temperature was predicted to hit as high as 105° - oof. I told myself I could take as many breaks as I could and to just keep drinking water. Luckily shade was plentiful, but still I stopped regularly to cool my body down and watched for signs of heat exhaustion, such as feeling woozy or not sweating. Thankfully I was fine.
I slowly made my way to the top of the climb, and then I only had 6 or so downhill miles to camp. I was shocked that my foot hadn’t been hurting much at all today. I think the extended morning soak did me very well. I finally made it to the river I was planning to camp at, happy and tired. There were amazing swimming holes dotted along the river. I soaked my whole body for a bit in one, and then kept hiking up a short side trail to where the campsites were. There were already a ton of hikers there, and I quickly saw Bradventure. I set up my tent near his and we had a chatty dinner together. It was nice to not eat dinner alone. Tomorrow I will make it into Mt. Shasta!