August 13th Near Divide Trail Junction to Brown Mountain Shelter

Up early and sure enough, a mile or so down the trail Jason and Cassandra were coming down from the campsite they stayed at during the night. They'd done their first thirty mile day on the trail and seemed quite pleased with themselves. Good for them! We stayed together again for the next eight miles until we reached our next water source, Christi's Spring. One hundred meters down a side trail, the spring was barely flowing and it took Jason a couple of minutes to find a comfortable position in order to access the flow. Cassandra and I alternately handed him the containers we wanted filled and, requiring some patience, Jason managed to fill them. After downing a few Clif and Luna bars for lunch, I forged ahead once more, Jason and Cassandra opting for a longer break in the shade near the spring. Eleven miles further, on the southern slope of Mt. McLoughlin, the trail begins to parallel a fairly large creek. I found a nice place in the sun to stop and rest. I stripped down to shorts only and with feet dangling in the rushing water, leaned back on the grassy bank to soak up some rays and snack on peanuts and almonds. I thought Jason and Cassandra would soon catch up, but after 40 minutes there was still no sign of them. A lot of Nobos have been passing today and, as they would tell you, they are much more willing to stop and talk for a while than I am. I figured they must have been chatting a whole bunch today. Crossing Highway 140, I was now in the environs of Brown Mountain, which from what I could tell was one enormous pile of lava rocks. Steve and Kristen had mentioned this place to me. The trail here represents one of the Pacific Crest Trail Association's biggest and costliest projects---creating a walkable trail through this basalt jumble. A wonderful job they've done too, with the unique red dirt topping the rockfill. In the early evening hours, I finally passed Sayo and Aya, the walking sisters, Nobos I knew about from reading their trail journal before I left for Canada. Glad to see they've made it this far and barring injury, I'm sure they'll reach the northern terminus. They've got a great support system. The last part of the trail around Brown Mountain becomes a bit more difficult as the smooth red clay is replaced by small clusters of basalt rock that test the strength of your knees and ankles. At 6 p.m. I rolled into Brown Mountain Shelter, which was my stop for the night. It's actually a one room, dirt-floored cabin used by cross country skiers in the winter, with wood stove inside, a hand-operated water pump outside and a picnic table around the side. There I met Bump, a Nobo who earned her trail name from the smack she took to her forehead when she slipped during a stream crossing in the Sierras and went face first into a rock. The subsequent damage included not only a goose egg above her brow, but also two black eyes. She had photos of this on her phone as proof of her misfortune. About an hour later Jason and Cassandra arrived. Great to see them as I was worried they'd find little comfort or space for camping on the slopes of Brown Mountain. The reason for their delay was, as I had already surmised, the fact they had been much more social than I. We spent the rest of the evening chatting and Bump showed us photos from her journey north including a short video clip of a Sierra stream crossing. It was after dark when things finally broke up and each of us retired for the night. I laid my sleeping bag on a wide wooden shelf in the shelter, the first time I've had a roof over my head since the Dinsmores over 400 miles ago.

Trail on Brown Mountain

31 Miles