Day 96 : An unexpected reunion

24th July 2013
Mile 1266 to mile 1290 : The Williams' to Belden
Mileage : 24

As if the previous day's hospitality hadn't been enough, the 5 of us hikers staying at the Williams' last night were woken to the wonder smell of coffee and frying bacon. I had the best of intentions to hike out early and make the most of the cool of the morning, but the breakfast laid on by the Williams' put paid to that. It was without a doubt the best breakfast i have had on the trail thus far, and i don't imagine it being beaten any time soon. By 9am i was on the move once again and after a 5mile road walk around Bucks Lake had regained the PCT. With the hundreds, if not thousands, of calories i had taken on a breakfast i had covered 15 miles before i needed to stop an eat again, and did so just before starting the 5000ft knee jarring descent down to Belden, a small hamlet built on the North Fork of the Feather River as it cuts east to west through this most northern section of the Sierra Nevadas. The trail spat me out almost directly in the middle of the centre of the 'town', a grandiose title for population centre of 22, according to wiki. Upon arrival at the local watering hole, i spotted the packs of PRT. I discovered Peter Pan, Mr Greem, Dishcloth and HoopDreams soaking in the river celebrating Pan's birthday and awaiting my arrival. They had been expecting me earlier in the day, but my trail angel stop had delayed me by about 9 hiking hours and so they whiled away the time doing what PRT does best, resting. In truth i was not expecting them, to be here so soon, as was intrigued to know how they'd gotten here so fast. It turns out they had found it too tough to leave Sierra City given the steep climb out of there, and so had obtained a ride to Bucks Lake, from where they had hiked into Belden. In order not to cut any corners, they now intended to get a ride back to Sierra City tomorrow, from where they would hike back to Bucks Lake, whereupon they would get a ride back to Belden before returning as normal to the trail. The logic of their plan escapes me, but it does leave me with a bit of a dilemma as to whether or not to wait for them in Belden, or whether to continue up the trail and hope they catch me up. For the moment I put all that from my mind and joined them cooling off in the river with a hard earned beer. Planning could wait til tomorrow.

From left to right, by Starfox : Rocks, Yours Truly, HoopDreams, Dishcloth, Mr Green, Peter Pan, Shady Acres, Nurse Betty & Nurse Betty's fella whose name i don't remember