In the end, we pulled another play from Mizman’s book and didn’t hit the trail until after 10, this morning. Linda made biscuits and gravy from scratch so we’d have a “stick to our ribs” breakfast that will last for the day. There was a furry Great Pyrenees on the porch that was willing to cuddle with me and give me those big, sad eyes. It was drizzling, and had been since 7. But, as I’ve said before, I have a mean wife who demanded that I carry her food and tent. She was ready to go.
In spite of the drizzle, it was an easy day of hiking. We had fully planned on going about 16 miles today, and we were making great time—almost 3 mph. We met a couple of sobos that were thru-hiking. Finder and Saunter had hiked the entire desert section and jumped up to Mount Shasta/Dunsmuir a few days ago. They told us that we would, in fact, encounter about a day’s worth of snow before we made it to Dunsmuir. It didn’t sound too bad as Saunter broke trail through the area without using Guthook or wearing micro spikes. Still, we were hoping that the snow would be gone because it’s only 6100’ between here and there. For us to get to Oregon, we’ve got a couple of stretches over 7000’. I guess we’ll just do as Saunter’s name suggests and back peddle our plans a bit.
Part of the reason we were trying to go 16 miles today was to make it up closer to Mt Shasta by the weekend so we can get together with Pit Boss and Play by Play that live near there. We haven’t seen them since Uncle Jonney’s last year. We kept in touch with them most of the way through the mid-Atlantic states, but then lost touch around CT. We reconnected with them over the winter and are looking forward to seeing them again. I guess it will just have to wait a few more days.
Instead, we decided to just stay at Burney Falls State Park. We got to the park about 1:30 (for those sports fans doing math in their heads, that’s just about 10 miles in 3 1/2 hours—there might be some 20s in these old legs, yet). The visitors center was open so we stopped in to watch some films about the geology and history of the area as well as finding out about the plants and animals in the park. After the center, we headed to the General Store for some lunch.
The store has a decent resupply, but we don’t need any. We wanted food for now. Lunch choices are limited, but we managed to get by on some hot dogs, chips, soda, and ice cream. They were friendly at the store and offered to watch our packs while we went down to the falls and got a camping spot.
The falls are pretty amazing. The water comes directly from Burney Mountain which feeds into Lake Britton via Burney Falls. Burney Falls, Burney Mountain, and the town of Burney are actually named for a drifter from North Carolina that came to the area in the mid 19th century. His mark on the area wasn’t very significant other than quickly getting “accidentally” shot and killed by a bunch of locals. That’s the mountain where Burney got killed. That’s the stream that Burney died in. That’s the town Burney was in before he got shot. That’s the Falls where Burney liked to go before he got “accidentally” killed. Over time, everything just became known as Burney. I guess this is accidental payback.
The melt off of Burney Mountain drains into a huge field of subterranean broken rocks about 15 miles above the falls. The actual stream doesn’t even start to appear on the surface until just about a mile above the falls. Burney Falls is 175’ tall and passes 100 million gallons of water each and every day. Often, during the height of summer, the stream dries completely up, but the falls keep pouring out the water. When you’re looking at the falls, you can’t help but notice the large amount of water coming out of the rocks and not out of the stream. The falls are located at the edge of the upper plane of rocks and the layer below the broken rocks is impenetrable to water; hence, the falls where Burney liked to go before he accidentally got killed.
Going down to the falls in most times involves about a 15 degree temperature drop because the water is so cold. Today, however, was the opposite. Above the falls, it was cold and windy. As we dropped down the couple hundred feet to the base of the falls, we started getting warmer because the wind was blocked. I’m beginning to actually question whether it ever does get warm in California.
Bunny and I headed to the campground and set up our tent. We weren’t actually hungry for supper because of our lack of activity for the last couple of weeks and the hotdogs we had for lunch. Instead, we decided to go sit in one of the park’s bathrooms so I could charge my camera and get some potable water to make hot tea. Tell me I don’t know how to pick a woman. How many other people do you know who have a date in a bathroom in a park AND the woman is happy. I’ve always told Bunny the secret to happiness is low expectations. She must have taken it to heart. She married me.
EFG