Day 51,    23 miles

Our  hosts, Debbie, Brad, and Amy, brought us back to the trail head at 7:30 am.  It was hard to leave the summer cabin on the lake.  It was very relaxing.   I slept outside on a comfy couch on a big deck.  Tugboat, Happy, Sweet Virginia and I had such a great sleep.

The first 15 miles flew by.  It was an easy cruising trail through the cool forest.  The sun shone through the trees and it was a comfortable temperature.  There were peekaboo views of Mt Lassen.

We passed many day hikers as it is Memorial Day weekend.  The last 8 miles were much slower.  The trail disappeared into snow again!  Ugh!  (I am enjoying it, but it slows the troop down)  We were above 6000 feet.  There is no trace of previous hikers on this section so we had to use our gps apps to navigate through snow, fallen trees,  and branches.  There was water everywhere.  Sometimes the trail became a stream.  At 7 pm we found a dry spot right on the trail and set up our tents.  It was getting too late to find a proper site.

We met another hiker named Brew who joined us for the last few hours and is camping with us.  Hopefully we will catch up to Venture tomorrow.