Kerry and I drove to Angela's house in Chester on Thursday afternoon. Mark left on Thursday night, drove all night, took a wrong turn up a super curvy and not-recommended-for-trailers road, and arrived at 5 AM. Kerry didn't sleep much anticipating his arrival. Angela worked all night, got home at 3 AM. As a result, everyone except me was a little groggy on Friday. No matter, I did some work, then practiced "chillaxing," which I am not very good at. At the end of the day I dragged Kerry into the truck and up Warner Valley road to scope out a trailhead, which we loved so much we went back and picked up the horses. The Pacific Crest Trail near the Domingo Springs trailhead:
Domingo Springs on Warner Valley Road:
Columbine near Domingo Springs:
On Saturday, Noam drove up with Tom and Joelle and two more horses. They lost the turbo on the truck at the bottom of the mountains (don't buy a Ford Powerstroke, apparently they tend to have problems with the turbocharger), but managed to get it fixed before Angela and I got there with a replacement truck. Tom reports much chest thumping ensued. Noam, Tom, and Joelle were a little groggy from getting up at the crack so we limited our riding to swimming with our horses in a little pond on the property where Angela lives. The pond is really a spot where a creek running through the property pools. It was perfectly clear before we got in and stirred everything up. Holly the Beagle went first:
Attack of the pond scum!
Five dorks on horses flanked by two dogs:
Noam and I hanging out with the gorgeous Herefords that live on the property with Angela:
Sunday we drove to a different PCT trailhead from which Jim, Angela's landlord, said we could ride to some great views and the midpoint of the PCT, where we could sign a ledger. I am all about signing ledgers and demanded we take this trail, which unfortunately quickly turned into a rats nest of down trees in that direction, so we had to turn around and ride north instead. Timer shot:
Juliet, Lukka, Cygan, and Tommy having a convention at the turnaround spot:
Tom and Angela jumped some logs across the trail and a good time was had by all. After a few hours we headed back to the trailers and into Chester for some ice cream, then amazing cornish game hens prepared by Angela. Angela took us hiking in the evening. We heard fireworks over Lake Almanor, it was an amazing hike in the woods in the dark. Monday morning Kerry, Noam, and I took another ride on the PCT from Domingo Springs, then packed up and headed home.
That is the back of Micki, my wilderness ranger friend, who I volunteer with in the Sierra National Forest. I helped her pack in some tools for a volunteer trail crew from the Backcountry Horsemen of California. Here I am, very proud, in my forest service uniform (also known as "the pickle suit"):
Loaded up and ready to go:
View into Sequoia National Park from a forest service cabin in Crown Valley:
Stopping for a drink at a private in-holding surrounded by the John Muir Wilderness, where the volunteer trail crew camped:
