Distance hiked today: 17.7 miles / 28.5 km.
Having been hiking for 14 days straight, I decided I needed a rest stop in the town of Burney. With some cell service on the ridge yesterday I booked the last room at one of the motels for tonight.
I still had about 18 miles to do to the highway, again mostly downhill into town. I passed a fish hatchery and a lake, and it was nice to be among greenery again.
1400 miles done!
When I got to the highway around 1pm I stuck my thumb out and the second vehicle stopped to pick me up. Towns along the trail are used to seeing hikers hitchiking and it's been quite easy to get rides. I couldn't check into the motel yet, so headed to McDonald's for some nuggets!
On my way back to the motel with some groceries, a few hikers were having an impromptu BBQ on the front lawn and waved me over. Burgers, veggies, beer and snacks! More and more hikers gathered, and soon I think every hiker in town was there for our own 4th of July festivities, probably 25-35 people plus the owner of the motel and the cleaning staff. Sparklers were our mini fireworks.
On top of that, Double Play lives in Burney, whom we'd hiked with for a while in 2019! He joined the party, and even showed a British couple how to shotgun a beer which they'd never tried before. It was fun to catch up and meet new people, some of which I've been seeing on and off along the trail for a while.
Total trail mileage: 1411.3 miles / 2270.8 km