July 23–25 In the middle of the night I awoke to a powerful eau de skunk stench that increased in intensity. I hoped that nothing would startle the beast into spraying since my tent is hardly an adequate barrier. By morning the offender was gone and so was I, Chico-bound by 9:00 a.m. as Nick ventured further north before turning toward home. So long Spencer! I arrived under 2.5 hours later to find my two […]
Read moreDay: July 26, 2021
Goodnight, Moon
July 22 Last night passed uneventfully as far as I was concerned—no return of motorcycles—but Nick heard another car cruise silently past us toward the rear of the campground, headlights off, at around 2:00 a.m., and then back out. After more bacon and eggs this morning, we departed for our final hike. We’d consulted a detailed map of the region and spotted the five-mile round-trip trail to Adams Lake. It begins near the end of […]
Read moreSpencer & Erica
July 21 As our new neighbor slept in across from us, we quietly prepared breakfast, cleaned up and aimed ourselves toward our next trailhead, the McKenzie Gulch loop 20 minutes south, outside of Weaverville. Despite the early hour, it was already climbing toward 90° and much of our route was exposed, hillsides denuded of shade due to a previous wildfire. Once again the AllTrails app kept blaring warnings that we were off-route, and this time […]
Read moreBikers & Lakes
July 20 The day began early with eggs, bacon and final planning for this morning’s hike. We decided on the Boulder Lakes trail, which gets positive reviews on my iPhone hiking app, AllTrails, whose users nonetheless warn that it’s crowded and that: “It’s pretty much an uphill climb for about 1.5 miles!” “The 11 mile drive to the trailhead can be pretty bouncy with a few large potholes, even in an SUV. Some folks driving […]
Read more
Latest Comments…