On the Road to Lassen National Forest

Ok, so I'm back to blogging again, thanks to the generosity of a man named Bill in Oregon, who's opened his home to us. I'll get to that more later, whenever I catch up on the writing. Here's a brief entry from July 17th, when Freebird and I were hitching out of Sierra City, CA. We decided to skip a section of the Pacific Crest Trail and get back on in Lassen National Forest. Ryan picked us up at the edge of town, with plans to drop us off at Quincy. We soon learned more about him, that he works for the forest service and is studying towards a Ph.d. on fish in Nepal. And most important, he is a very loving person. Really, the majority of the people that we've met are very caring, not at all as scary as society has wanted us to believe. Ryan stopped to quickly chat with a friend and trusted us to sit in his car with the keys in the ignition, so we could listen to Bob Dylan! Then before arriving at Quincy, since it was 100 degrees outside, he drove out of his way to take us to swimming hole, complete with rope swing and awesome locals! Afterwards, we went into town. Ryan graciously offered showers at his place, but we turned him down as we had just cleaned up in Sierra City. We were planning to resupply at the grocery and then continue to hitch back to the PCT. Ryan showed us around Quincy to make sure we knew where everything was before we parted ways.

A school in Quincy.

We resupplied at Safeway, split a gallon of ice cream, and then hitched out of town. A man in a hippie bus named Aaron picked us up. Go figure, he was heading right past the exact location where we needed to be dropped off. God provides, as always! We sat on the love seat in the back, while Aaron told us about being a professor of botany and about some of his favorite flowers and plants.

Along Lake Almanor, we spotted a bald eagle and its young, so we paused here.

The nest. The hatchlings later became visible, though I didn't capture any images to post here.

Black raspberries everywhere! What a wonderful surprise!

Aaron pointed out these gooseberries to us. I had never seen or eaten one before, and got to try it. Delicious!

 Freebird made a new friend who would just not let go - a mayfly. Aaron excitedly grabbed his camera and we had a photo shoot, while he lectured us about the mayfly.

 After the leaving the Lake Almanor, Aaron dropped us off back at the PCT. So much thanks to Aaron for the educational and fun ride there, and thanks to God for orchestrating the beautiful hitches all day!

At the trailhead, more blessings awaited. A water cache! Also known as "Piper's mom's cache." We filled up on water, enjoyed ice cold sodas, and looked through a hiker box. Inside the box, I noticed a comb. I had just purchased one in Quincy because my brush was too bulky and was damaging my pack. So coming across a free comb felt like God was playing a joke on me! What a sense of humor! He makes me laugh like this from time to time. This is one of countless other occurrences that remind me to let go and trust that God does provide.

Before we settled down for the night, we enjoyed one more surprise, a sight that neither of us had before seen - a skunk and her four babies!

Well that's all for now! The next entry will feature our adventures in Lassen National Forest! Until then, take care, dear readers!