Day 94 :The Feather River

22nd July 2013
Mile 1221 to mile 1251 : A-tree Spring to the Middle Fork of the Feather River
Mileage : 30

I made good time today getting all the way to the feather river before dark fell. Most of the day was spent trying to hide from the sun that beat down on me all day as it continues to be the hardest part of the hike at this stage. There were several unpleasant exposed sections on the tops of ridges, that i had to tackle in the midday sun, but thankfully these were short in length and i was able to hike in the shade for the majority of the day, although at the hottest part of the day even this wasn't possible. Exacerbating the intense heat is the stillness of the forest. On the exposed ridges there is sometimes a breeze, but mostly the forest blogs out the wind, every once in a while i can see the tops of trees waving slightly, but down on the forest floor there is no relief, the oppressive heat and silence weigh down on me everyday and is difficult to ignore. Towards the end of the day the forest is at it's hottest, and today was no exception. At the end of the day I had a 3000ft descent down to the Middle Fork of the Feather River, and as i descended i could feel the temperature and humidity increase with every step, even as the forest was starting to darken with the oncoming evening. The river was a welcome sight at the end of the day, and i was able to cool off, but even so i looked forward to the climb back up from the river as the forest is fractionally, but noticeably cooler with the increase in altitude.