Day 90

19 Miles

I could hear hikers walking past the tent in the morning, one by one. We eventually got up and packed. The first mile was the hardest of the entire day. We did a short climb out of the campground and then the rest of the day was practically flat. The miles came smoothly and we made good time. Lunch was early, around 10:45, but we had already gotten to the lake so we stopped anyway. Shoreline was huge, the drought obvious. We ate, collected water, then started rolling through the burn area before Hat Creek. The burn went on for miles, which made it hot and exposed. The silver lining was that the smoke from the Dixie Fire was hanging over the area so it blocked the sun a bit. Arrived at the river early, around 4:30, so we had plenty of time to soak our feet in the river. There was a fairly large group of hikers in this one spot, but everyone had plenty of space. 700, Scenic Route, Nugget, Beekeeper, Bluegrass, Spin, Hot Springs, and Sophie aka Magnet. We haven’t seen her since Hikertown, about a month and a half ago. Most of the group gathered while eating dinner and played a game of Villagers & Werewolves. I had never played before, but it was a fun game with no physical requirements like cards or dice: perfect for hiking. After we, the villagers, won, we all started either turning in for the night, or taking off for a night hike. Hiker midnight was going to come early.