Day 86 – Friday, Aug. 18

PCT Mile 1,391.1 to PCT Mile 1,416.5, Burney Falls State Park
Day Total: 25.4 miles

We filled up with enough water at the tank to make it the remaining 14 miles of this long dry stretch and walked more than five miles before stopping for a big breakfast under a juniper tree overlooking the valley.

We had heard that we could see Mount Shasta from here, but the haze from wildfire smoke made it so we couldn't see the far side of the valley.

We planned to get to Burney Falls State Park by the end of the day to pick up a resupply package we had sent ourselves. Knowing that the box had enough food for the next 80 miles, we knew we could eat everything we were carrying right now.

What a fun challenge!

Stephen had warned me before we started this trip that it would get to the point where we had to always ration food. That we would get to a point where we would, at any moment, want to eat everything we were carrying and we would spend every day fighting that urge. But today, we could eat everything!

And we did pretty darn well.

The hiking was pleasant today, mostly flat with views off to the west. It was hot. Unfortunately, it was even smokier than yesterday and too smoky to see Mount Shasta.

A highlight was discovering a picnic table with a big umbrella next to the trail. It had big coolers of cold lemonade and snacks! There was a sign calling it the Wild Bird Cache, and it was clearly well-maintained.

My favorite part was that they had markers for hikers to sign their names on the picnic table. We added Chainsaw and Youngin' to the table, and got to see the names of several hikers we've met as well as hundreds more we haven't.

We got to the state park a little after six and picked up an awesome care package from our friends Amy and Candace. Thank you, thank you!

Unfortunately, the box we had sent ourselves hadn't gotten there yet. The woman at the camp store said the mail usually gets in by 10:30 a.m., so fingers crossed it'll be here tomorrow morning. Some hikers have had lots of issues with USPS and packages not arriving on time, but up until now we've been very fortunate.