July 7:Lassen National Park

We woke up early enough to enjoy the continental breakfast at the hotel before heading over to the PO to grab our packages. Just as we were heading back to the hotel to meet the guy who was going to give us a ride to the trail, Mark started to feel a little funny. Since we only had minutes to decide if we were going, he concluded he would be better off if we waited a couple hours and he layed down a bit (we had the hoel room for a few more hours anyway).

So Mark layed down and promptly fell asleep, and woke up a couple hours later feeling much better (he thinks he ate something funny at breakfast).

We finally hit the trail around 12:30pm. Because we had skipped a section of trail, we had left a package in Sierra City that we are hoping to pick up if/when we go back to hike the section we missed. In that box were maps/data book info that covered the last section of trail as well as the first 20 or so miles of this section. So we headed out blind, persay, in regards to what the trail was going to do elevation-wise (up? down? flat?) and where water was. So it made for an interesting day, especially with the water. We just never knew if it would be 2 miles or 20 miles to the next water source. We laughed because we know that for years tons of people hiked this trail and others without all the information we get so used to relying on.

Today we also hiked into Lassen Volcanic National Park. The trail stays pretty far away from all the cool volcanic stuff, but we did get to walk by a sulfur-smelling boiling lake before stumbling upon Drakesbad Resort and Warner Valley Campground. We took a quick break and planned on walking another few miles, but after about 10 minutes we ran into the British couple we had hiked with a week or two ago. We have a great pattern with them: we take a break, plan to hike another hour, come upon them 10 minutes later, talk to them for an hour, and end up camping with them. It's kind of funny, in a way, but they are just fun to talk with. It also helped that the whole group we'd been hiking with had stopped early to hang out and eat at hiker-friendly Drakesbad, so we were happy to be reconnected with them as well.

We were also happy to be back on our maps and data book.

Total Miles:1354.2
Miles Today:18.4
Camp 71:Lassen National Park

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