Day 81 – Sunday, Aug. 13

PCT Mile 1,275.2 to PCT Mile 1,298.0
Day Total: 22.8 miles

It was about nine miles of downhill into the Feather River canyon to get to the "town" of Belden and I didn't know what to expect.

Belden isn't really a town but more of a resort. We heard that some weekends they have music festivals and it gets crowded.

This was one of those weekends.

The trail to Belden was really steep. My knees were on fire by the time we got to the bottom of the canyon.

We walked out of the woods and started seeing hundreds of large camping tents, cars, and people. Our friend Toe called it a shantytown.

People were wearing all sorts of bizarre clothing. Everyone was very friendly. We found out this was the Funk Festival and there were several stages. We were there too early to hear music, but there were lots of PCT hikers who stuck around for a day or more to partake.

The organizers were super hiker friendly but the best part for us was there was lots of food. We ate burritos from a taco truck!

Then came the big climb out of the Feather River Canyon.

It was about noon when we left Belden and it was hot. From there, it was about 10 miles of climbing, totaling more than 5,000 feet of elevation gain. It was exhausting.

The first four miles or so were all exposed and incredibly hot. Fortunately there were a lot of streams still flowing strong, so we didn't have to carry too much water.

We got to the top a little after 7 p.m .and found a place to camp, up high on a ridge. We had beautiful views of Mount Lassen towering above the other peaks and enjoyed a purple and pink sunset as we ate dinner.