Miles hiked: 27.9.
It was a bit too warm to really be in my sleeping bag and I ended up having ants and who knows what else crawling over me through the night, so didn't sleep as well as I'd have liked. Got walking by 5:30, starting the climb from 2,200 feet back up into the 6,000 foot range. It was a little muggy but the trail climbed the eastern side of a side canyon to the main Feather River canyon and thus didn't get direct sunlight for quite a while. We followed along Chips Creek for about 10 miles, and most of the climbing was the normal well-graded PCT stuff we're used to. But once we crossed from Plumas into Lassen National Forest, things got a bit steeper until the trail climbed yet another side canyon up into a meadow then up onto the shoulder of Frog Peak.
From there I could see the first good view of Lassen Peak, now just a handful of days walking away. There is quite a bit of smoke or valley smog so it still wasn't a great look, but still good to see.
I'd been leapfrogging with Good Time Grant and Starburst all morning, and at Frog Spring I talked with them some about their work on container ships. I also saw Shenanigans several times today, first time since before Sonora Pass.
From Frog Peak the trail did another 10 or so miles along a broad ridge through forest too thick to see through but still sparse enough to let in enough sun to be pretty warm. There wasn't much bird or other wildlife activity in the heat of the day, and I don't really even remember much of what I thought about. Just plain and simple walking in the woods.
I had afternoon siesta at Cold Spring, where a pipe coming up out of the ground gushes into a trough and a big chunk of meadow has been closed off from cows, I guess, with a split rail fence.
Eventually late in the day the trail came out of the woods onto a stunning volcanic ridge with red and brown rock formations. I could see Lassen again and also what I'm pretty sure is Lake Almanor off the the east, and more rolling green mountains in all directions. I continued along this ridge another 7 miles, enjoying warming light of the sinking sun.
I finally got to my camp spot around 8. There is a spur trail off the ridge a whopping 0.3 miles to get water, which is a long long way. I dropped my pack and went down for water then came back up and set up camp in a saddle of the ridge with several other hikers.
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It's come to my attention from multiple sources that I wasn't totally clear what my trail name is. I am Chilly Willy, which is turning out to be a fun name that generally makes people smile.
Birds:
Western Wood-pewee
Black-headed Grosbeak
Spotted Towhee
American Robin
Bewick's Wren
Acorn Woodpecker
Steller's Jay
Northern Flicker
Mourning Dove
Wrentit
Band-tailed Pigeon
Lewis's Woodpecker- nest with chicks
Warbling Vireo
Pacific Wren
Canyon Wren
Hairy Woodpecker
Brown Creeper
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Pileated Woodpecker
Wilson's Warbler
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Green-tailed Towhee
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Chipping Sparrow
Townsend's Solitaire
Mountain Chickadee- fledgling
Common Nighthawk
Common Poorwill
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