July 2nd
We had heard of the mystical Feather River from a hiker in Sierra City — supposedly the swimming was phenomenal. From where we camped it was a 22 mile hike to get to the river. Tomtit and I were both feeling the effects of yesterday’s big miles and we didn’t get hiking until about 7:45. We finished the uphill climb we started yesterday and cruised along in the woods for most of the day. It was a pretty hot one let me tell you. The cloud cover we had yesterday was gone today and the whole forest was a muggy sauna. I was dripping sweat off my chin and Tomtit’s shirt was soaked — all day.
We left the trail at around ten thirty and hiked 3/10ths of a mile down a paved road to get water from a creek. There were logging trucks roaring up and down the road but not many passenger cars. The pavement blasted sun and heat back up to our faces and I was really glad we didn’t have to walk on it for long. The creek was easy to get to and we had a snack while filtering our water. An annoying thing started happening with our sawyer squeeze/platypus bladder combination — the sawyer won’t screw on completely on the bladders and unfiltered water leaks out. We’ve been using them for about three months now and this just started happening. The bags are intact, but we can’t get the sawyer to thread correctly. We might have to buy new sawyers.
Anyway, we walked back up the road and rejoined the PCT. A few humid miles later we stopped for lunch with a really nice view.
We went up and down a lot of small hills in the trees until we came to the sign we’d been waiting all day for.
“Middle Fork Feather River Trailhead”
Our plan was to dunk our sweaty selves right into that river, but we had to get down to it first. A 2200 foot drop over four and a half miles. Sorry knees! We went down as fast as we could dodging swarms of black flies and poison oak until we could hear the roar of the river beckoning. We rounded a corner of rock and saw a majestic steel bridge floating over the perfect swimming hole. A short rock scramble down to the shore and we were ready to get clean! We washed our clothes and laid them out to dry, and then jumped into the water. It was the perfect temperature. Neither of us wanted to get out so we just swam around for a bit. We finally got out and dried off to make dinner — we soaked some rice and beans that I’d grabbed from the Sierra City hiker box and they were delicious. We filtered some more water from a tributary creek (it was again a frustrating task) and packed up our bags. There was an equal and opposite climb up from the river waiting for us so we figured we’d get a jump on it for tomorrow. We went another mile and 700 feet up to a campsite. Sadly we got all sweaty again, but at least we’re not covered in dirt!
There were quite a few mosquitoes at the site (although none at the river — so good!) so the tent went up quickly and we got in. The plan is to wake up a little earlier tomorrow to hopefully finish this climb out before it gets too hot. We’re aiming for the Buck’s Lake resort 15 miles from here to get some snacks before moving on to Belden.
Jill and RT PCT 