[pct-l] Section N brief trip report

[dave at livebythepark.com (David Davis)]

Wow, it was nice out there.  Just a few little pitfalls others might want to know of. 

Quite a bit of snow on North side of ridge just North of Poison Spring as of Sunday morning.  It required route finding and cross country.  Trail was not visible for maybe 1/2 a mile.

Lots of trees down throughout the entire section except Belden to Myrtle Flat, right around Cold Springs, 3 miles either side of Hwy 36, and the first 2 miles inside the Northern boundary of Lassen NP plus of course Hat Creek Rim.  The trees are enough that they will seriously slow hikers down.  That is, everyone but hurdlers and even they are going to have to slow down in spots.  A few miles before Cold Springs I started counting.  I hit 48 in about 1 1/2 miles before I got bored with counting.  That includes everything from 2" saplings leaning over the trail to duck under up to giants down lengthwise on the trail. 

Speaking of Hat Creek Rim, I'm sure no one will need to worry about stickers.  I'm sure that I must have taken all of them away in my socks.

Amigo's beautiful water cache and shelter had about 50 gallons yesterday.  He did a wonderful job.  Incredible.  Thanks Amigo!

Watch for the birds on Baum Lake, I don't know what kind they were, but they looked like maybe some Pelicans and some Swans.  Worth noticing anyway.

Some of the trail in Grass Swale is under water and there was a fair amount of snow there as of 3 days ago.  It's not enough to cause route finding problems, but it slows one down a tad.  It looks like the Forest Service is fixing the trail. I saw pallets of lumber that looked like they would become some sort of raised walk.

Bugs were not bad, YMMV.

You WILL be walking in intermittent poison ivy from the descent of Hat Creek Rim to nearly Hwy 299.