Mile: 1417.6 to 1438.0 (20.4)
up/down: 4500/2300 feet
One hundred days since we started this adventure. We haven't hiked them all but they all count. In fact we've only hiked 80 of those days needing to drag our feet in May before entering the Sierra. We are averaging 18 miles per day on hiking days which is respectable.
One hundred is also the magic number for county birders as they try and get at least 100 in each of the 58 California counties. Susan went over 100 in Shasta county today after starting from zero before this trip. This was only possible because we went through so many habitats and elevations. Cool!
Today is what we call a "filler" day. Making miles in uninteresting terrain to get to the next good spot. We don't know where that will be quite yet but it wasn't today. We climbed most of the morning to get out of Burney Falls State Park in a Doug fir and oak forest. It wasn't until well after noon that we got our first and only view beyond the forest - a nice one of Mt Shasta. One hundred is also how hot it is in the valley below. The day was blistering hot at our elevation with humidity that we aren't used to. We took far more breaks than normal and didn't make our usual miles. We're still on track for Shasta on Sunday but will have to try and knock out a few extra tomorrow. We will get up earlier and try and get more in the morning.
We crossed the Britton Dam first thing
Susan's lunch - tortilla, peanut butter, spicy chips, Swiss cheese, and summer sausage. She said it was good. :-)
To get 100+ species in Shasta while hiking with purpose is a great accomplishment. It has to be hard to focus on birding while trying to cover the miles.
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