Miles hiked: 33.35.
It was a calm night so the big snag leaning over my camp whit I didn't notice until laying back in bed didn't fall on me. Nice when things work out like that. As I was packing up this morning I heard what I'm pretty sure was a bear breaking apart a log a hundred yards or so uphill from my camp, but the forest was too thick to see it.
The trail continued its little westish zigzag this morning which it started last night, connecting the tapering north end of one north-south ridge with the building southern end of another. These ridges undulate around the 5000 foot elevation mark, and White Firs have replaced Red Firs over as the dominant tree at this elevation. They're a bit skinnier than their higher elevation cousins, but are much taller. In places they for uniform groves of great trees 3 feet in circumference.
I brunched at Alder Spring, which, like many springs in this area, consists of a length of angle iron pounded sideways into the ground to form a spout. And also like the rest of the springs around, the water flowing from this one was frigid and I could only keep my feet in the little puddle below the spout for a minute or two. While I sat eating my granola and checking out the rest of the trail to Belden, a couple of 1 or 2 year old bucks with little velvet spikes wandered quietly to within 20 feet of me before I even noticed. They browsed on gooseberry and whitethorn leaves and didn't seem to care much about me, until I got up and packed and started walking when the smaller of the two bolted through the thick brush only to pop out right next to me again.
My next resupply is in Belden, which also apparently has a pretty good climb out. In order to do the climb in the morning, I'm planning to try and get there tomorrow night, rather than the morning after. Belden is a little over 60 miles from where I camped last night, so I wanted to try and get a bit over 30 done today. I've been inching toward the 30 mile day lately, and I felt pretty confident about pulling it off without breaking anything. But the one thin standing in the way of this plan was the Middle Fork of the Feather River. This Wild and Scenic River has gouged a 3,000 foot deep canyon through the hills, and there is no way for the PCT to get past except to go down one side then back up the other. This deep canyon would make up the last 14 or so miles of my day. Near the top of the descent I head some crashing in the forest that sounded like a deer bounding away, but after a few minutes of peering down into the thick forest I could tell it was a bear, about 200 lbs and blond on the back, just going about it's bear business.
It took about an hour to get down to the river, and when I arrived I wondered why I'd never been here before. Such a beautiful river with such a wild feeling to it. The steep canyon walls are heavily forested and the river tumbles over boulders and through chutes carved in the bedrock. A big steel bridge crossing a narrow point is he only obvious sign of humans, though a little snooping around in the trees reveals big cables grown into big cedars, rusted belt-driven somethings, and a side channel built into the river that must have once diverted water to power something. I had a dip in the water and rinsed some clothes and ate some lunch but didn't siesta because it was already getting on in the day.
I got back to hiking around 4 to start the big climb up and out of the canyon.
It was 10 miles to the top of the climb at Lookout Rock, which a southbound section hiker had told me has great views, and reaching that point would put me in good position to get to Belden tomorrow. The trail contoured way in and around a side canyon full of sugar pines and black oaks and some really big Doug firs. It was a bit muggy but some dark clouds and eventually the ridge I was climbing blocked the sun. The view back into the canyon grew more and more expansive and soon I could see back south where I had come from.
I reached Lookout Rock just in time to watch the sunset, and felt surprisingly good for how many miles I'd walked. My muscles still felt strong (but tired) and joints pretty pain free. The only continuing issue is some bruising and general soreness on the bottom of my feet, which started while I was breaking in the new shoes on the rocky trails of Desolation Wilderness north of Echo Lakes. Lookout Rock is a jumbled pile of granite angling out of a hillside overlooking the side canyon I just climbed up and so much more beyond to the east; rolling green hills extending forever. I even had cell reception there, I guess from Quincy, and talked to Libby for a bit. The sun drifted down through scattered clouds and lit the far side of the canyon and beyond. A Common Nighthawk called somewhere overhead, and as darkness grew some bats chirped around my camp.
Birds:
Hermit Thrush
Steller's Jay
Western Wood-pewee
Brown Creeper
Oregon Junco
Common Raven
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Fox Sparrow
Northern Flicker
Western Tanager
Wilson's Warbler
Pine Siskin
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-headed Woodpecker
Cassin's Finch
Cassin's Vireo
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Hairy Woodpecker
Common Nighthawk
Spotted Towhee to
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