It was so hot last night that it was hard to get to sleep. We were grateful to be sleeping in a real bed, though. We woke up to an actual rooster crowing and caught an early ride back to the trailhead. From there we walked back to the restaurant at the resort to get a hearty breakfast. The food was really well-cooked and the portions were huge, so we had some leftovers to carry with us for lunch. As we got ready to leave it was already getting hot and we soaked ourselves with water in preparation for the climb ahead of us.

For every big downhill there’s usually a big uphill as you climb out of the canyon you dropped into. Belden was no exception and we faced almost 5000 feet of gain over 14 miles. It would be a test of our endurance. We started out in partial shade but were still sweating in the building heat of the day. We climbed parallel to the highway for a few miles before turning north and heading up the Chips Creek canyon. We hiked through a gauntlet of poison oak lining both sides of the trail. Before long our meager shade vanished completely as we entered the scorched area from the Chips burn last summer, caused by a hiker’s improperly put-out fire.

This section would have been much tougher if not for the creeks and springs that crossed the trail every mile or so. We were able to stop almost whenever we needed and cool down with wet bandannas. We took our time and drank so much water that we had to stop and filter more. With this relaxed pace we reached the end of the burn still feeling strong. How much easier would Southern California have been if we’d had ice-cold water available every few miles?

This brought us out of Plumas and into Lassen National Forests. We kept climbing, pushing through undergrowth that was blocking the trail. Chips Creek continued to rush through the canyon below us, a constant back note to our huffing and puffing. Finally we crossed it twice in quick succession and stopped for lunch at the second crossing. Leftover breakfast potatoes and the remainder of an enormous piece of ham (originally as big as my face) hit the spot in a very satisfying way. The wasps thought so too, and as soon as the food appeared we had visitors checking us out. Defending our food didn’t make for a very relaxing lunch but it did make us move faster than we would have otherwise.

After eating it was back to the climb for another few miles. A little more hiking brought us out of the trees and into a meadow, then over soft dirt trail to the open top of the ridge at last. Here we met Busted, a hiker new to us, and we chatted as we cruised the last 5 mostly-downhill miles to Cold Springs and the end of our day. When we arrived we found the place crowded – everyone from the Braaten’s the previous night was there along with Fireball, a hiker we’d been leapfrogging ever since we left Sierra City. We had no trouble finding a spot off on our own and mostly out of earshot. The spring water was cold as promised and was piped into a metal trough, making it easy to fill our water bottles. The air was finally cooling off and we looked forward to a comfortable night.

Tomorrow we will reach the halfway point of the trail after over three months of hiking. It feels strange to think about – long overdue and too soon at the same time. We’ve been out here working hard every day but it still feels kind of sudden. It makes me think back to the very beginning, when 100 miles seemed impossibly long and we counted off every tiny fraction of distance as we passed the milestones – one tenth, one fifth, a quarter. Some hikers are starting to get homesick. We think about home and family a lot and are looking forward to seeing everyone, but I’m happy to find that we’re in no hurry whatsoever to finish and go back earlier than we have to. It’ll all be there when we get back and we’ll be back soon enough, with this incredible 6 months in the past.

– Posted from the PCT

Location:Pct mile 1309