Day 96, RidgeWalkers

Part 3, Northern California, Day 96

RidgeWalkers

Miles: 25.43

Total Miles: 1541.61

I slept like a rock last night. I did wake up around 3am, and the sky was filled with stars. I love the moonless nights. I woke up and felt pretty good. The sunrise was great. The morning started with a mellow trail. The hiking was flat and would stay that way all day. You just gotta love Northern CA! 

I was making great mileage with all the flat trail. I passed the Flinstones and Raingear and also the Europeans. I met a hiker named Hushpuppy. 

This was such a beautiful morning hike.

The sea of green goes on endlessly.

I found this piece of wood near the trail. Apparently it's a shard from a lightning struck tree? 

Mt. Shasta looked like it was erupting!

Here's the same view an hour later:

There were many day hikers out today. I hiked with Raingear for awhile. He's a wild man from Lynchburg, VA. He loves to party.

I drank up at this lovely piped spring. I love these NorCal springs. I'm sure I've mentioned that before...

I passed Toad Lake:

Around this time, the storm clouds gathered quickly, and the trail became more volcanic. It was like walking on Mars, I'd imagine. 

I passed Deadfall Lake. It's a very popular place for locals, and I saw a lot of people. 

More wonderful springs!

I met these two backpacking dogs. It was hard to take a pic, they were pretty manic:

Just to be clear, these backpacking dogs had owners with them. It's not like they were on a trip by themselves. I wondered what their packs were filled with...milk bones?

The trail turned west and even south for a long while here. It felt wrong walking south. 

I met a trail crew called "Lyons Pride." It was cool talking with them, and they gave me some good water source tips. My feet were done at around 6pm so I camped at this large volcanic looking butte with a fantastic view.

As I was cooking ramen for dinner, I suddenly heard a glorious melody. I searched for the source of this beautiful music, which I was sure must've been some exotic bird. It sounded like mellifluous singing. I was surprised to find that the singer was a squirrel:

Readers... I'm not even joking. This squirrel had the voice of an angel. It was singing, like a high pitched opera ballad. I couldn't believe it. Just as mysterious as it appeared, it was gone, and with it, the wonderful singing. It was cool, and more than a bit strange. I slept that evening wondering if I was losing my mind...