Miles hiked: 10.6.
Since I was only 10 miles from where the new pack will arrive tomorrow, I went ahead and slept in until the cackling Acorn Woodpeckers and phlonking Canada Geese and the soft morning light filtered through the trees around 6. I made coffee and went back to bed to finish yesterday's journal, then finally got walking about 7:30.
I only made it about a third of the way to the state park before I got to the Wild Bird Oasis Cache, just past hwy 299. This is an incredible spot for hikers to hang out, and while I still have some mixed feelings about all the trail magic along the trail, I ended up spending an hour and a half here and even had a soda. There was a picnic table with new boards screwed on top and a box of sharpies for people to write their name on the table, there were ice chests of cold sodas, a pantry with canned food, a dart board, a solar powered phone charging station, a solar shower, a shade tent, camp chairs, a camera to take your picture with, and a log book in which the maintainers of the cache emplored us to write jokes. Such incredible generosity!!
By the time I left around 11 it was starting to get a bit warm. The trail cut north west across a broad low basin between Hat Creek Rim and the hills around Burney, through dry oak/pine savannah. There were occasional shrubby areas with that hot dry, sort of sweet and earthy and smokey smell, like when the artichoke water is just about to go dry in the pot on the still lit stove. For me that smell has always been associated with being a bit too hot, and today was no different.
At Burney Falls State Park I briefly glanced past the rows of tourists at the falls then headed right for the store and a soft serve ice cream and a couple hot dogs, dispatched rather quickly right outside the store. Then I got some beer and another ice cream and found a few hikers draped over some picnic tables in the shade and set up shop. Pretty much stayed there the whole rest of the day being a degenerate hiker until it got dark and the ranger let us know it was time to leave the day use area and head to the hiker/biker campsite. I'd spent most of the afternoon with Geisha Diamonds and Foxtrot, and now the three of us walked to the campsite via several wrong turns, laughing quietly and wondering which campsites we might be able to get some BBQ from. At the hiker campsite there was a fire and some more laughing and the grand finale was Shuffle (who I hadn't seen since around Lake Silverwood when my quad broke down) sang several Disney songs.
Birds:
Acorn Woodpecker
Canada Goose
Western Wood-pewee
White-breasted Nuthatch
Bushtit
Hairy Woodpecker
Mourning Dove
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Northern Flicker
Osprey
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Turkey Vulture
Western Bluebird
Gray Flycatcher- biggish bill and gentle downward tail flick
Mountain Chickadee
Brown Creeper
Lesser Goldfinch
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