Last night we decide to just rent a car here in Redding, drive it up and spend the evening and the next day in Burney Falls, and then Kacie will drive it down to Sacramento to catch a bus to Reno to fly home. It sounds convoluted, but seems like the easiest option for getting me back to the trail and making sure that Kacie doesn't have to hitch hike for an entire day.
We sleep in late, enjoying the ease of off-trail life for one more day. It's about a mile and a half walk to the car rental, and when we shoulder our packs around 10:30am, it's already pushing close to 100 outside. It's always a readjustment after zero days; reminding my feet and shoulders what it feels like to haul around a pack. We walk the hot pavement, feeling the sweat bead up moments after leaving our air-conditioned room.
We arrive at the car rental (half-way there we realize neither one of us thought to call ahead of time and make sure the place still existed), and are relieved to find the place and get out of the heat. Unfortunately, we soon find out that you can't rent a car without a major credit card, and uh-oh, both of us are only carrying our bank ATM cards. Of course. We ask if they will accept a photocopy/a fax/call from our parents (because parents are always able to fix things, right?!)...no dice. We heave our packs back on--the women give us pitying looks--and head back outside to sit in the sidewalk under a little patch of shade. We both frantically search our smartphones for alternate options. Thank god for Siri.
Kacie finds the only care rental that will accept a debit card, and we tell them to hold the car for us. The only problem is that now we have to get to the small municipal Redding Airport. So I call a cab, which seems to be the only cab company in Redding, and they tell us the wait is about an hour. An hour and twenty minutes later the cab picks us up, and 15 minutes after that, drops us off at the airport. One step closer.
Kacie finds a better deal on her phone than what the car rental initially quoted us, so we present this to the woman at the front desk with our best "we're poor, tired hikers just trying to get back to the trail" story, which is the first time I've never had to elaborate on a story to try and get a deal. We are friendly and young and women, so it all works to our advantage. The lady gives us the better deal, and an awesome car, and FINALLY we are on our way to Burney!
Because I've been dreaming about it, and because we are both about to go crazy from lack of food, we stop at the In 'N' Out Burger on the way out of town. The place is packed. And I don't just mean 'busy', I mean freakin packed. It takes a little while, but once we get our double doubles and shakes, life is grand.
We get the last (and best) camping spot in the park, and set up camp among the large families and weekend campers. My pidly tent, which usually looks so big in comparison to the other hikers' on the trail, is dwarfed by the McTentsions of those around us. It is laughable, but here we are, in a nice spot with a huge fire ring, enjoying the last night of our trip together. We made it.
We walk to the little general store, and see a couple hikers we know, and I pick up my packages of new hiking sandals and socks. Huzzah! Then we take a short walk down to the Falls. I have to admit, they are pretty spectacular. Water crashes over the top in a split water fall, as well as seeping and pouring out of the entire face of the falls, through the porous volcanic rock. We take way too many pictures.
The air is a good twenty degrees cooler at the base of the falls, so much so that I begin to shiver, which is absurd on such a hot day. The water is a beautiful deep blue, and I am mesmerized watching the water flow over and through the rocks.
We make dinner of chili mac and hiker trash burritos, sipping on beer and staring at the fire. Sometimes I forget just how lucky I am.
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