I was so excited to see McCloud, and not only because I was obsessed with Highlander as a child. I so wanted to hike around Castle Crags. But on my way to Tahoe, I started getting calls and texts from people, concerned about the smoke from the Klamathon fire. If it was just me, I’d probably risk it, but it’s so difficult for pugs to breathe as-is that I didn’t want to put him through that.
So, instead, I found Locavore Farms through AirBnB. It’s a creek-side camping spot in Fort Bidwell, California. Tako and I loved it so much.
Laurie & Krystal were awesome hosts. Krystal came and kept us company for a while that evening since we were the only campers onsite that night. And Laurie even delivered coffee for us in the morning!
On our way to Fort Bidwell, we passed through Litchfield and found the coolest family-run store, Heard’s. The owner was sitting having a conversation with another man, and when I asked how they were, they said they were living the Litchfield dream. When I asked what they were up to, he said “Just havin’ a liars’ circle.”
I asked what that was, and he seemed surprised I’d never heard of it. Apparently, it has a few names — Liars Circle, Quilting Bee, Coffee Club — and it’s just two or three people sitting around having a conversation, or, as he put it “telling lies.”
He didn’t even charge me for the soda I bought because he said he needed to change the syrups. Honestly, I find the nicest people in the world live in the most unexpected places.
We spent so long in the car going around the smoke zone that we had to skip hiking in Lassen to reach camp before dark (disappointing) but it was still a fantastic day.
We fell asleep to the sound of the creek that runs through the camp, staring up at the stars. For the life of me, I couldn’t get a photo of the night sky. I have to learn to be satisfied taking pictures with my eyes.
High
So hard to choose. Newell’s Cafe is amazing. Check out this BBQ Quesadilla & the courtesy maple-drizzled watermelon! Perfect for a day that started out at 75F by 9am.
But the real star had to be the campsite, Woofer Hollow.
How could you not fall in love with this place?
Low
We didn’t really have a low for Day 2. The closest we can come to a low is that we were stalked by an animal all night last night. Stalked is the wrong word, really, since it was just curious. But I’m not sure what else to call it because it kept coming up to the tent and snuffling around all night. It wasn’t aggressive — Tako didn’t bark at it once, even when it brushed the tent next to him — but it kept waking us up, so we’re a bit tired for our drive to Bend today.
Driven: 724mi
Hiked: 5.1mi
Written: 1.5k
Listening to: “heart” flor
Not Quite Flying Solo 
His little jacket. I can’t handle.
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