July 10:Burney Falls State Park

We cruised our morning miles to end our dry stretch at a creek. Actually 50 yards before the creek was a large pipe that was shooting a small spray about 8 ft in the air. We soon learned the pipe took water to a nearby fish hatchery. It was here we took our first break. The fish hatchery welcomed visitors and they let us use a hose to wash up. We were filthy! Probably the dirtiest we've been yet, all from a day of dusty trail and sweat.

A conservation officer working there asked us if we had seen any mountain lions. They are very rare and even more elusive so the oppurtunity to see one is uncommon. We replied that we hadn't seen any, when he shot back,"would you like to?" He walks to a nearby door and says, "Come on, I'm not kidding." We approach the door and feel the cold gust of a room like a meat locker. There lying on the floor was a giant cat. Huge about 6 ft long, and it looked like it out-weighed me (Mark). It had been hit by a car and the fish and game department gets the call to come pick it up. So, we saw a mountain lion on our hike; it was only about two feet away and I never got scared.
We hiked just a little further and got a hitch into the town of Belden in 5 min. We took the extra time to resupply food at a grocery store rather than the over-priced camp store at the upcoming state park. The difference... 6 packages of Poptarts for $2.50 on sale at Safeway vs. 1 package for $1.75 at the campground store. Yeah, the hitch to town was worth the time. We also enjoyed some subs before getting a ride back to the trail with a retired guy who brought two hikers in. He even waited for us to finish eating before taking us back. He scoffed, "Oh, I'm retired I've got time." Got to love it!

We were back to the trail 2 hours after we left it. In the heat of the day we walked through a burn area from earlier this year. We entered the burn area with a dust line of chemical redardant on the plants and we left through what looked like a bulldozed fireline the size of a road. The uprooted trees were still green on the ground.

At Burney Falls State Park we saw the spectacular falls and headed to the camp store were we got root beer floats. There was quite the crew of hikers since some had hitched past the fires from further back the trail than us. We got showers, washed some clothes, and enjoyed the company as we just decided to camp there for the night. Other hikers help me not to always be in such a rush to keep moving. It was a HOT night again as it never seemed to cool down.

Total Miles:1423.6
Miles Today:18.4
Camp 74:Burney Falls State Park

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