Day 13 - North Fork Feather River

Everyone kinda slept in this morning, whether by design or by mistake (I neglected to set my alarm) but it sure was nice not to jump right out of the sack at zero-dark-thirty. We managed to start hiking by 8am and for the first part of the day it wasn't too hot. 

We took an alternate route out of Drakesbad this morning that included some boiling mud pots and a steaming lake. I like the graphic image😜

The lake was sulphur smelling but quite interesting to see. 

Also the mud pots were blopping along. 

Playing around with the B&W settings.  

After that nice morning diversion it was hiking into the sun and rising temps until around 3pm when I crossed the bridge here over the river to hide from the sun. I lost my hat sometime between last night at dinner and this morning so I was hiking most of the day with my umbrella in order to try and keep the sun off my head and the sun out of my eyes. 

I stopped early today because, number one I didn't want to make a 700 foot climb in the heat of the afternoon and two, if I went to the next water source that would get me into Chester too early in the day tomorrow. What this means though is that I had to say goodbye to my new found friends, Trisha and Paul. Very sad for me since they have been wonderful hiking companions. But they have a schedule to meet so we had to part ways. 

I only managed 9.6 miles today. But those miles sure felt harder in the heat. But I'll be up and at'um at first light tomorrow! 9.3 miles to the road to Chester, CA.