Day 63: Burning in Burney

I realized today I am highly motivated by the prospect of ice cream. A highway where I could hitch to the town of Burney was just slightly 25 miles away from the campsite. I desperately needed to do shower and laundry too since it’d been over a week without either, and washing myself and my clothes in the river only goes so far. 

Trail registers are more common in this section and it was cool to see the hikers’ names who are in front of us. I ran into several of them today. 

A trail register

In the 25 miles walking to town, I had to figure out how I could shower in town. A church normally offers free showers to hikers, but they weren’t available today. Dismayed, I tried calling a motel to see if I could drop in to shower and to my surprise, they said yes! Ah, thank god. It was even located next to the laundry mat, a restaurant, and a Rite Aid (where I could get ice cream). Even better, the motel was already planning to pick up a hiker at the trail at 1:30, which is when I was hoping to arrive to hitch. I arrived shortly after 1:20 having covered almost 26 miles already for the day and was so thankful for the speedy 7 mile ride in the back of a pickup truck to town. 

I completed my usual town chores in record time, including eating a pint of ice cream, and was back on trail shortly after 3pm by securing a quick hitch out of town. There was a fire that started a few miles outside of town and people were beginning to get evacuated. The irony of Burney being on fire was too much for me. I hope they get it under control and am thankful it is away from the trail. 

The afternoon was hot (mid 80s) but less so than yesterday and I was careful to set a pace where I wasn’t sweating too much -- didn’t want to ruin the shower! The trail remained relatively flat for the afternoon. I wrapped up the day shortly after 7pm having covered 38 miles in just 11 hours of hiking time. 

Miles: 38.4

Total Miles: 1,655