13 Jun Day 52 – Golden Bear

At mile 1369.7. Hiked 19.4 miles today. 

Here is King Creek crossing. Impossible to cross here with dry feet unless you remove your shoes.

Here is where I crossed King creek using a log by walking upstream.

Next I came to this boardwalk crossing a beautiful green wetland.

I came to Twin Lake where I took a break and swam. The deer didn’t seem to mind.

I walked along Twin Lake for a while.

I walked through miles of burned forest that allowed many views of Mount Lassen. Mount Lassen is over 10,000 feet.

Here is a view of where I had a long lunch. There was a little creek running through this meadow so I ate on the creek bank. It was 12/30 and I had already walked over 13 miles and only had 6.2 miles left for the day.

 Just before exiting Lassen National Park a beautiful gold colored juvenile bear bounded  across the meadow in front of me. It crossed the trail and kept going. I played a little loud music in case there was a mama bear. Wish I had gotten that video because the bear was out in the open and running free.

One last look at Mt Lassen as the trail turns into a valley and away from this snow draped volcanoes.

Looking ahead out of the burn zone to the next landscape.

Hat creek just feet behind my tent.

My tent for tonight where I hear water spilling over rocks in Hat creek.  

The Thru-hikers:

Met a new thru-hiker named Rainman. He told me that a lot of hikers who skipped the Sierras are NOBO like me. He has been seeing them. And I thought I was the only one. 🙂  

While resting after lunch alongside a stream, none other than Ramen-Jamen came walking up. He was headed southbound having skipped the Sierras after Forester Pass. Ramen-Jamen and I had met on the PCT in SOCAL. Just before reaching  my camp on Har creek I ran into Yellow Jacket and Life Hack. In SoCal they were part of a large group of hikers that were known as the Brits and Aussies. These two are all that are left. I guess the others split off or quit hiking. YJ and LH had hiked 29 miles the previous day to get to Old Station  (a  town). Now they were faces with another 29 mile day if they were to get through Lassen without camping. This is due to the Bear Canister rule. Instead, they were resting and taking a short day with camping just before the park boundary. Ironically, that spot is near where I saw a bear today.

Thinking about Ga Tech I asked Yellow Jacket how she got her name. She said Thunper named her. She went on to describe Thumper as an older Mormon man. I asked, “Do you mean Jack?” Yes, Jack is snow known by his trail name Thumper. As Thumper hiked behind YJ, he thought that her blonde hair looked yellow against her jacket so he named her Yellow Jacket.