NO. 14 OF 26 · NORTHERN CALIFORNIA · MILES 1345 TO 1421PHOTO #1781 · DAY 82 · ROUTE: TRAIL LINE + STRAVA
DAY 79 · JUL 17, 2021 · CAMP ESTIMATED
“PCT day 79: fire closure skip”
24.1 mi2,064 ft7:573.0 mph
trail mi 1345 · 5,377 ft5,377 to 6,672 ft
DAY 80 · JUL 18, 2021 · CAMP ESTIMATED
“PCT day 80: desert flashbacks”
22.2 mi2,283 ft7:372.9 mph
trail mi 1365 · 6,259 ft4,364 to 6,273 ft
DAY 81 · JUL 19, 2021 · CAMP ESTIMATED
“PCT day 81 (p2): after resupply · PCT day 81 (p1): to Burney hitch”
22.1 mi1,050 ft7:113.1 mph
trail mi 1383 · 4,802 ft3,904 to 5,121 ft
DAY 82 · JUL 20, 2021
“PCT day 82: Burney falls”
24.2 mi4,262 ft8:452.8 mph
trail mi 1401 · 3,904 ft2,890 to 3,904 ft
92.6 miles tracked·4 days, July 2021·midpoint made of sticks·bed a church gymNorthern California, leg 14 of 26
Watch this leg
4 MIN 42 SEC · NARRATED BY ATLASLassen to Burney Falls
A bus and a dirt-road ride around the fire closure, a midpoint we built ourselves, the Hat Creek Rim, a church gym in Burney and the falls.
By Jeffrey “Atlas” Combs · walked Jul 17–20, 2021 · published · updated
The fire closure skip took two rides. We took a bus up to Chester, then someone offered to take us down a dirt road into Lassen, and we got back on trail from there. Day 79 Strava calls “fire closure skip,” 24.1 miles, and it went into Lassen Volcanic National Park.
In Chester it was raining ash. Visibility was a quarter to half a mile, and I couldn’t see the hills we were headed for. I got ash all over me just doing the grocery run. Lassen looked okay on the air quality reports.
The skip meant we all missed the official midpoint. We’d been waiting the entire trail to see that one marker saying we were halfway done. It was a sad moment. So when we got to that dirt trailhead area we made our own: “Midpoint” spelled out in sticks next to a little cairn, with a question mark under it. We made it to be funny, and because we were disappointed we had to skip it and miss it.
Fires are part of the trail, though. You’re constantly moving around burned trail, sleeping in dead forests and getting covered in ash on sections that have reopened. It is what it is.
Quoted lines are from my 2021 logs, verbatim.
Day 80 Strava calls “desert flashbacks,” 22.2 miles. It went through Subway Cave, a lava tube we walked with headlamps, and there’s a photo of me on the Hat Creek Rim at dusk.
Day 81 started with 17.6 miles to the Burney hitch, then another 4.5 miles after the resupply. In Burney we ended up at the Word of Life church gym. I remember how weird it was sleeping on the basketball court with all the people. They had house rules on the wall and a hiker box in the kitchen, and all around, the people were super nice. Some of the hikers in the kitchen seemed like they had been there awhile. We ate at a Mexican restaurant nearby.
Day 82 was 24.2 miles past Burney Falls. What I remember is big waterfalls and lots of people. A trail sign that day put Canada at 1,233 miles and Mexico at 1,417. We really were far from Mexico. Then we crossed the dam at Lake Britton, and by afternoon Mount Shasta was out on the horizon.
Start // back on trail in Lassen after a bus to Chester and a dirt-road ride, day 79
Finish // past Burney Falls, day 82
Camps // the church gym in Burney
Eat // a Mexican restaurant in Burney, name forgotten
The food, then and now
I can’t clearly remember the Burney resupply. What I do have is the note in my phone from that day, titled “Oats”: “oats, bacon bits, minute rice, dried fruit (choco mango), toothpaste, tortilla, electros, protein powder, avocado, wet ones, snackies.” There’s a photo that afternoon of Larabars and fruit bars labeled vegan. The meal in town was at a Mexican restaurant, and I’m not sure what I had.
If you’re going now, hikers report Chester’s Holiday Market was well stocked for vegans in 2024 and Dollar General had produce in July 2026, and Cravings (2026) and Lola’s (2025) made vegan meals on request. Drakesbad reopened in July 2025 but has no resupply, and hikers in 2026 reported one vegetarian dinner option and a thin buffet for vegetarians. Ask ahead about a vegan meal.
At Old Station the Fill-Up was a decent gas-station shop in September 2026, and JJ’s Cafe is closed for 2026.
In Burney, hikers found lots of frozen vegan options at Grocery Outlet in 2025, Burney Mountain Guest Ranch cooked vegan with advance notice in August 2026 (the chef is off Mondays and Tuesdays), and Julio’s made a vegan breakfast burrito on request in 2023. The Burney Falls park store is a pricey top-off that cut its hours in September 2026. Shop in Burney.
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