Day 115 - The Russian Wilderness

Today's hike took me on a tour of the Russian Wilderness, a 12,000 acre section of the Klamath National Forest.

My cold still present, I looked forward to reaching the town of Etna, CA​ by sundown and the hopeful relief of my symptoms via over the counter medication.

The haze offered ​a dreamlike quality to my day's jaunt, and my iPod offered a soothing soundtrack to my journey.

I traversed fields of flowers that seemed to foreshadow the changing of the seasons. 

And evergreens that offer no such clues. 

I reached a rather striking ridge line, with remarkable rock formations overlooking the valley below.

I walked through a burn zone, a now familiar site. I was out of water and really thirsty.

I gratefully witnessed how different the scene can be on the other side of the ridge, and started down toward a lake full of fresh water.

I drank my fill and enjoyed a lakeside snack, and rinsed out my salty shirt and socks.

And gradually made it to Sawyers Bar Road, where I hitched to town with some cattle farmers pulling a horse trailer.

I found my way to the city park and spent the night with a dozen other hikers at the group campground.

<3 Will