Smoke and Circles

Monday the 20th I waited around in Old Station all morning for my package. Finally after lunch I called the post office just to make sure it was coming and the lady said she had it but wasn’t planning on delivering it till the next day. I asked if I could come get it and she said sure, but then asked where I was and I told her at the store in town and she said she would bring it down their around 2 pm if I’d wait. I told her that’s be great and settled back in to wait. I hung out with some other hikers that had made it into town and learned that Uphill (formerly RJ) had hiked through that morning. I met an older guy that was section hiking south and we talked for a while: then just before 2 I walked to the store and stood out front until I saw an SUV with US mail pull up and I walked over and the lady handed me my box. I took it around back to a picnic table and opened it. There was so much food! I was ecstatic and stuck as much as I could in my pack. I realized there was no way it would all fit and I didn’t have anybody to give it to so I put as much as I could in my pack and then left the rest in a box on a bench in front of the gas station hoping some hiker would wander by and pick it up. It was nearly 3 pm and I was finally ready to hike out. I made sure I had full water bottles as the next section was notoriously dry and picked up my now ridiculously heavy pack. With all the food and water I could barely carry it but I got it on my back back and hiked out. It was a blazing hot afternoon and I was heading out to walk around the Hat creek rim which was famous for being hot, exposed and waterless. I would have to do over 16 miles that afternoon to make it to the 500 gallon water tank which was basically halfway across the dry section

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