Ain't Life Grand

Day 79 ~ miles 1272.5 - 1289.5

There was a short climb today before we began our descent to the Feather river in Belden. We had heard of an electronic music festival/rave that was going on over the weekend at a resort, which the trail passes right through. We figured we would get to see the residual effects of what had gone on over the weekend once we got down there. The last 5 miles of the hike in were extremely steep and hot. Poison oak lined the trail so constant vigilance was necessary.

When we arrived at the  Belden Town Resort, we saw all of the weekend's attendees milling around and waiting on the roadside for their rides to come pick them and their stuff up. There were people in costumes, bathing suits, and other rave attire. A good portion of them looked to be in some form of altered state, and we felt sort of the same way, but our brains were fried by the sun.

We made our way to the restaurant where we took a seat off to the side and just enjoyed being motionless for a few minutes. We saw some familiar faces, including our old friend Midway, who had enjoyed the weekend festivities along with some other hikers we knew. They all had a blast and were heading back to the trail today. We decided to get something to eat with Pixel and Shazam, and there were burgers all around.

During lunch a topic of conversation that has been popular for the last few days came up once again. The High Sierra music festival was going on in Quincy, 30 miles away, and today was the last day. Widespread Panic was headlining, so it was a very tempting proposition. Sideways began to look for tickets on Craigslist and Stub Hub, but there was nothing in the price range we were willing to pay for single day passes. By the time we got there, Widespread would probably be all we'd see. It was a great opportunity though, and Sideways had been bugging me to go for several days, so I said, "Let's go try to hitch." We quickly ate our last bites and we were on the highway with thumbs out.

Our excitement faded as the clock ticked on the burning asphalt. An hour had passed and no ride had come along. We were just discussing giving up when a gold Mercedes with a single female pulled up to the exit of the resort. She was going down to the High Sierra Festival, and had room for the both of us. We both rode in the back seat since there was stuff in the front, and I tried to maintain a conversation over the wind coming in all four windows that had deafened Sideways next to me.

We made it down to the festival grounds around 4:30-ish and parked right outside the gate.  We scored VIP wristbands and strolled through the gate. "Is this really happening?!" we thought. 

We contacted a friend from Reno, Gregg, who we figured was likely at the festival.   He was, and we found him pretty quickly.  After a few minutes of catching up over a beer, we stashed our packs in his friend's VW and headed into the festival grounds just in time for Trampled by Turtles, a great band that we've seen several times before.  In the VIP area, we ate free sandwiches, as many as we could, and enjoyed being close to the stage.

Between bands, we wandered around and saw some fellow hikers.  We returned to our stageside VIP spots for Widespread Panic.  The show was awesome!  Somehow, we managed to find our way back to our belongings after the show.  We setup our tent and crashed out hard after an extra exciting day.

-Moonshine