Heat, Rain, and Fire

We got a hitch out of burney with the first car that drove by. It was an awesome guy named Fred who not only took us back to the trailhead with his groceries in the trunk but then he turned around and picked up more hikers heading into town. A few miles in we hit the wild bird cache and found the most amazing magic we've seen on trail so far. There was a cooler with sodas, fruit, and frozen candy. A cabinet full of tons of other food and even an outdoor shower and stove top for hikers to use. We stayed there for a while enjoying this awesome spot before we pushed on to burney falls. The next few days were extremely hot and dry so we had to plan our days around water stops. A few days later I was hiking when I came around a corner and came face to face with a large deer. Startled, I turned around and waited for the deer to get off the trail. Instead, she followed me and watched me for a while before returning to eating. When smokey came up, she tan and we were able to get by her. About ten minutes down trail, I turn around to find the deer had been following me and was only about a foot behind me. I sped up to a run and tried to catch up to Smokey when the deer began to chase me, only stopping when she heard the noise of Smokey ' s trekking poles. She ran off again and we were relieved to be rid of her...or so we thought. Three miles down trail at a small creek the same deer came back and watched us for about half an hour before we left. The next day we hit the trail and a few miles down, a wasp got trapped in my hair and ended up biting me four times before I could get him out then got me a fifth time on the back of the neck as he fell. I was not having a good day. We got to a creek where many hikers were swimming and jumping off rocks so we decided to join them. Once we did,  another through hiker, who was off trail to meet some friends, came in with a ton of beer for all of us. We didn't make it too much further that day. We went into Shasta the next day for a resupply and an all you can eat pizza buffet but got out of town before we got too sucked in and hit the trail again that night. The next day was hot and we had to carry extra water until it started to rain on us. It was a quick shower before it went back to the heat but we could still hear thunder and lightning in the distance. That night we were woken up to more rain so we scrambled to get the tent up in time for it to stop raining.  We ate lunch near the beautiful dead fall lakes and ended the day by watching the sunset behind the smoke of the wildfire. The smoke was a pretty incredible sight but it was also scary because we were getting closer and closer. We hit a highway where we ran into search and rescue teams who were searching for a missing day hiker.  They informed us that the trail had been closed due to the fire for the next couple sections. We all sat around for a while deciding what we should do. Do we hike on anyways or do we get a ride into town and get more information on what was going on. A few people hiked in and were either turned around by officers or the conditions got so bad the felt unsafe. The ash began to snow down on us and the air was filled with smoke so we chose to get off trail. We got a ride into the town of Etna and were hoping to get back on the trail there, but when we arrived many had said the section was extremely unsafe and they would probably close the section in the next couple days. They did and our only option was to get back on trail in Ashland Oregon, missing the border. Almost all hikers are off trail now and most are in the town of Ashland so we got to see a ton of people we haven't seen in forever. We will be getting back on trail here tomorrow and continuing the journey! There are a few more fire closures ahead but hopefully nothing as serious as this. Mile 1726