Day 71 - Belden

Thursday June 25

"Descent into hell" describes our hike today. The trail dropped down into the town of Belden at 2,210 feet, a drop of 4,100 feet in elevation. The temperature in Belden was almost 100 degrees. It was HOT!

Our hike towards Belden was uneventful except we got our first view of Mt. Lassen in the distance.

We also saw several pretty lakes, this one was Silver Lake.

Both Willy and I had boxes sent to the local trail angels, the Braatens, who host Hiker Haven about a mile out of the town of Belden. 

Our first order of business, however, was to get lunch. We stopped at the Belden Resort Restaurant and had an enormous hamburger. The neatest part was that trail angel "Legend" was there!  He offered to drive us to Hiker Haven to get our boxes! 

We arrived at Hiker Haven just after noon, but no one was there. However, a sign told us to come on in. We found our boxes and I called the Braatens and got permission to take the boxes. We decided to get a room in town, rather than stay with the Braatens. The room in town allowed us to do our shopping and be close to a restaurant and trailhead. 

We got a nice room at the Belden Resort, got all of our additional supplies, did our laundry, and got cleaned up. 

We plan to leave early tomorrow morning with six days of food. The climb out of Belden is 4,100 feet, but it is over the span of 13 miles, so hopefully we can keep up a good pace and get high enough to avoid the 100 degree heat forecast for tomorrow!

Six days of food weights about 12 pounds. I carry 2.5 liters of water, which weighs about 5 pounds. My pack base-weight is about 16 pounds, so my pack will weigh about 33 pounds as I head uphill tomorrow! Wish me strength and stamina!