The last part of the Cascade Range was terrific. The sandy smooth trails were a nice change from the rocky trails of the north. Our Peruvian Pasos really moved out. There were very strange lava formations and pinnacles that looked like the figures on Easter island. The trail was on knife-blade ridges with spectacular views on both sides. We climbed up above 7,000 feet several times. The weather was nice as we rode through the high country. Warm in the sun and icy in the shade. We are now wearing gloves and jackets while riding. We found some real nice camps with plenty of feed for the horses. The southern part of the Cascades are full of grassy fields. Many of the springs and creeks that normally dry up this time of year are still running. Water and feed is plentiful this year and the horses are robust.

One of the stranger parts of the trip this year was when we visited the town of Belden to get a box of supplies we had sent to the Post Office there. We arrived above the town an hour before dark. We made camp deciding not to take the pack horses down to the town that was over 3,000 feet below the elevation of our camp. We were on the Indian Springs Trail because of the severe landslides on the Pacific Crest Trail. Belden is right on the Feather River along Scenic Highway 70. The Cascade Range is on one side and the Sierra Nevadas is on the other, with the Feather River cutting a deep border between the two. We decided to ride down to the tiny town for a burger, thinking we would ride back the same day. We cannot think clearly sometimes when lured by the thought of a hamburger. We left the pack stock and started down the steep canyon. The trail was nearly vertical and we could see the river way down below us. The riding the ridges is like flying a plane and this steep descent was like parachuting. At the bottom we popped out of the mountainside amongst a large group of surprised people.

We started down Highway 70 and could hear both sides yelling across the river at each other. It was now dark and we were riding down a narrow highway at night with semi trucks roaring by at high speed. After about a mile and a half we found a Cafe. Closed. It was next to a road going to the mountains, so w followed it until we found a place to camp. We did not have a bed roll or tent, and it was freezing cold, making sleep all but impossible. I built a big fire and we were able to sleep.. until it started to sprinkle. At 7:00 am we arrived at the Cafe... starving. W had their Big "Miner's Breakfast", waited two hours and then devoured their "Super Burger", with ice cream for desert. A gold miner saw I had purchased a pan and came to our table showing us big gold nuggets he had found in the area. He was ready to take me on as an apprentice miner!

The gold miner had been one of the spectators at Belden when we had passed through and offered some explanation to all the shouting we had heard the night before. It seems things got a little ugly later in the evening and the sheriff had to make a visit to the site. Nobody wanted to say what was going on and were very secretive about the whole incident. Apparently one family had lost ownership of the town which had been in their family for years. There were two opposing clans in this tiny hamlet, and there was no love lost between them.

We rode back to Belden, zig-zagging on the highway to avoid traffic. The scene at Belden was chaotic with police and U-Haul trucks everywhere. The police closed everything except the Post Office. Our package was there, but leaking Olive Oil. We divided our supplies and started back up the steep mountain to a warm welcome from our waiting pack horses.