Days 63, 64; Monday, Tuesday; August 31, September 1; Dunsmuir to Old Station—(Double Zero)

We had no idea what we were going to do today other than catch the 9:30 bus to Mt Shasta. There was a corner bakery/coffee shop down by the bus stop and we knew it opened at 8. That drove our wake up time to 7:30 which means, Bunny was happy with sleeping in. We’re off to a good start. 

First to arrive gave us choice of outside seating. The best thing to come from Covid is the rise of outside seating by restaurants. I hope this continues when/if we ever get a handle on the virus. An older gentleman sat at a table close enough to hear us talking about bus schedules and asked us where we were trying to get. We were hoping this was the trail providing us with an angel who would say “Forget the bus, I’ll take you wherever you need to go.” Instead, he said, “there’s a closer bus stop to the left.”

Our breakfast was great. I even ate eggs in my burrito (enough salsa will hide the taste). We got the free bus into Mt Shasta without incident. We got dropped off close enough to a dispensary to get Bunny’s “pot fix” (CBD oil and cream), and then we headed to the outfitter in the hopes of securing a ride to Old Station. We left our name and number and said we’d be back in a bit. We then tried our luck at the tourist information office which proved to be very helpful last year. We got a number for a shuttle service that might be able to help. 

While we were waiting for an answer from the shuttle service (it was outside of their normal range) we decided to do our grocery shopping. They called us back and said they could do it, but we’d have to wait until 3:30 today. We could live with that. It wasn’t even 11 yet, and we had everything arranged. We were even a day ahead of schedule. We told Charcoal B and Struggles we’d arrive in Old Station on Tuesday. 

Now that all the details were worked out, we could go eat. We decided to make reservations at the same place in Old Station where Charcoal and Struggles were going to stay and surprise them this evening. We could see from their inReach that they were still hiking. 

There was one last thing we wanted to do. We were hoping that after a week off trail, Bear and Sassy might be chilled out enough to consider returning to the trail with us in Old Station. We texted them asking if they were going to join us in Old Station or South Lake Tahoe. They said neither. They’ve made plans to visit their daughter before returning to the Mountain to Sea Trail in NC. They would rather bike on an unfinished trail than deal with the uncertainty of us and fires. They’re really gone. 

We made it down to Rim Rock Ranch in Old Station just as the office was closing. We got our keys and found out that Struggles and Charcoal knew we were coming. They even bought firewood and food for supper. We haven’t seen them since we left their place in Maui almost 5 months ago…the day all the restaurants closed in Hawaii. 

Charcoal made a campfire and we cooked hotdogs and baked beans. We caught up on what has been happening for the last few months while we ate. We were so excited to catch up with our friends that we lost track of time and stayed up until dark. We made plans for breakfast in the morning before turning in.

When we had arrived in town, we tried to contact Georgi. We had spent 5 days in her treehouse last year while we were waiting for snow to melt. She returned our call and said she could meet us at 10 on Tuesday at JJ’s Cafe, the only restaurant in town. We had already made plans to go to breakfast at 8 with Charcoal and Struggles, so we’d just hang out there and have “second breakfast” with Georgi. JJ’s closes at 2. Bunny couldn’t eat any more after the double breakfast, but I returned a bit before 2 with Charcoal and Struggles for my 3rd meal of the day. 

I spent some time in the afternoon researching the Bear Fire near Quincy. It appears to have grown from 30 acres to over 8000 acres and crossed the PCT. The previous bypass trail I saw last week is now closed. It looks like we’re going to have to jump around the fire. This sucks. That means we’ll have another gap to make up when we do the Sierra. I know this is a very selfish first world problem. People have been forced from their homes and we’re worried about a trail closure. 

It took me the rest of the afternoon to come to terms with the fire closure. We cooked burgers on a fire for supper tonight. Struggles has a cousin that works for the Forest Service and is going to meet us in Belden. She’ll drive us around the fire and hike with us for a couple of days. We’ll just start in Belden the next time we hike and repeat a small section of trail we’ll hike south of the fire before we switch over to the Tahoe Rim Trail. Life goes on. 

EFG