Meeting the Bigfoot Trail
Adam hugged me goodbye at the Ides Cove trailhead and I walked north towards Mt. Linn and the adventure of the Bigfoot Trail. Butterflies sucked nectar from flowers in the dry creeks along the path, as well as fluttering in my stomach- I was nervous about the unknowns of this trail. I was nervous about being alone in a very wild place, nervous about how my out of shape body would adjust to this rugged path, nervous about how the water sources on this drought stricken trail would hold up in the July heat… My list of worries fueled those stomach butterflies, but the jitters soon eased as I left the trail for some cross country scramble up to the summit of Mt. Linn and the stand of gnarled foxtail pines on her saddle. From the summit I could see across the Yolla Bolly mountains towards my home town of Willits, I could see the Central Valley and Lassen to the east, Snow Mountain Wilderness to the south, and the land of Bigfoot to the north. I realized this place is vast and wild, but I belong here. The Foxtail Pines were the first big tree species of the 32 conifers types along the route that I stopped and admired. I’d seen these beautiful ancient trees in the Sierra, but never before in my home range of the Yolla Bolly. Standing in the fragrant shade of their bristly branches I wondered what they had seen pass by over their thousand plus years of living in the Yolla Bolly. Later the afternoon of day one I came to D camp spring, labeled as cool clear water in the guidebook I was saddened to find […]
