Day 27: The Finish!

[Emily]:

What a beautiful way to culminate a month long hike...the Yolla Bollys and the views from its ridges are truly spectacular. I woke up feeling strong and thinking it would be just fine to keep on hiking for another month. On the other hand both Erin and I were excited to see Randy and Dan and complete our trek.

We had mostly ridge hiking all the way to Mt. Linn thus we had wonderful views north, west and east including back towards where we entered the Yolla Bolly wilderness and to the Trinities and Mt. Shasta. We had to traverse a bit of burned ridgeline with ceanothus and downed logs but not nearly as thick as yesterday.

Looking northeast towards Mt. Shasta 

The mountain mahogany was lovely.

Pretty much sums up the great hiking. 

A wonderful last day on the BFT. 

Gotta have an appearance by loopy lupine on the last day. 

Looking back north to North Yolla Bolly and the Trinities in the distance.

There were gorgeous meadows below Mt. Linn...would be a great jumping off point to climb the highest peak in the Yolla Bollys too - next time;)

Hey we’re so close! And just below Mt. Linn.

We did it!

Yay we made it! We finished at the Ides Cove trailhead at 2:15pm - about an hour ahead of Dan and Randy coming to pick us up. It was kind of surreal jumping up and down with a goofy grin on our faces in an empty trailhead in the middle of nowhere - but I actually wouldn’t trade it for a finish at the Pacific Ocean. The Bigfoot Trail takes you through beautiful, remote country - how fitting then to end the hike two hours from civilization. After whooping it up with joy and snapping a couple photos, we did our usual yoga, journaling and snacking (going to miss the little trail routines) while waiting for our beaus and our ride home. I couldn’t have asked for a better hiking partner than Erin - and in fact we had already started to scheme about our next adventure. We knew our BFT adventure would remain in our hearts and minds for many years to come.

Total miles: 11.5