Day 81 mile 1369.7 – 1377.3

Elevation: ascent 200 ft, descent 890 ft

We had a short distance to travel to get to Old Station and our Nero today. I’m not sure who was happier about that, our stomachs or our legs. Before leaving camp at 6:45 we said our goodbyes to Rev. We will most likely run into him up the road. He has been such a pleasure to hike with and watching him crush some miles was an inspiration to both of us.

The hike to Old Station was pretty darn flat for our standards. The trail was shaded by the trees but the trail remained quite dusty. Nothing like hiking in what feels like a really dirty beach. Every time you go to push off you could feel your foot slip backwards, making it feel like we were working harder than it should have. We started to see more views of Mt Lassen behind us, as we continue north. We should start to see views of Mt Shasta in the next couple of days.

Goodbye Mt Lassen

We got to our turn off for Old Station around 9:00 and you could hear the cheers from our stomachs. First stop would be JJ’s Cafe with breakfast on our minds. The staff here is amazing, super friendly and helpful to two stinky hikers. We took our time at breakfast using the WiFi to catch up on a few things. We even grabbed our resupply box which was sent here. When we arrived we ran into Caveman, Tramp and Flip Flop again who had stopped to grab food as well. They are hiking on today so we probably won’t see them for a while. It was quite interesting listening to the conversations going on around the restaurant, which seemed to revolve mainly around hunting squirrels. One guy was boasting about getting between 300-400 every year. Definitely felt my lack of knowledge with guns as they all were taking about what type of gun they prefer to hunt with. I guess they must have a pretty big squirrel problem up here.

After breakfast we hit the Fill Up Station here for some beverages and snacks before we walked back up the road, 0.4 miles, to Rim Rock Ranch and our stay for the night.

Unfortunately we couldn’t check in yet since it was only 11:00, but we were able to stash our bags so we didn’t have to lug them around. We hung out behind the general store on a shaded picnic table for a while, snacking and planning out the next section. We were there until about noon and then decided it was time for lunch so we headed back down the road, Hwy 44, to JJ’s for a second course.

After having lunch, and then ordering a sandwich to go for dinner, we headed back over to the Fill Up Station for snacks and ice cream (1/2 gallon) to be consumed later. We made it back to the Rim Rock Ranch a little before 3:00 and were able to get into the room. This was good since the temps are in the upper 80’s and we didn’t really want to dig into the ice cream right then. The place has a volleyball court but Double Down and I couldn’t find any takers 🤣.

Our rustic cabin is really cute! Right outside the front door was a grassy area and a pond. We were able to get a shower and then even do some laundry in the sink/shower (since there is no laundry here). So we then layed them out front on our picnic table to dry. It wasn’t perfect, but still way better then how they were.

After cleaning up, we had to head back over to the general store since that is the only place we could get WiFi. We are staying cool in the shade and just relaxing. I know this sounds crazy, but only hiking 7 miles and being done with that at 9:00 has felt like we haven’t been on the trail for a long time. While we were there we found out a little bit about the history of Old Station. I guess it use to be a post for troops that protected the California-Oregon Trail in the 1850’s

Now we are back in our cabin eating the last sandwiches from JJ’s. The plan is to wake up first thing so we can get an early start for the Hat Creek Rim which is notorious for being HOT and DRY!! Not a lot has happened from a trail standpoint, but we are definitely feeling a bit rejuvenated and will continue to push further north towards Canada.

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