My hike out to Mount Eddy ended where it began- the railroad yard at Dunsmuir, California. As described in recent entries I hiked 40 miles or so to Eddy over the course of three days then spent several days exploring the meadows and heights thereabouts.
 I hiked back the way I came along the PCT. It was downhill this time so I had gravity on my side though walking down steep gradients can be hard work too. I allowed several days again; it was even hotter if anything and some of the water sources were drying up even over the space of a week. My rations were pretty meager by now. Actually they had been meager throughout.
 I spent the final night on a designated PCT campsite located within a mainstream campground in Castle Crags State Park. So I could have a shower which was a joy and I walked over to Amiretti's Market to purchase sandwiches and fruit, more joy. I enjoyed hanging out with the hikers on the campsite, as was the case with all the great people I had met en route.
 About 7 in the evening on my last day in NorCal trusty Shasta Shuttles picked me up from Amiretti's and dropped me off in Dunsmuir, which looks every inch small town America. The Amtrak back to San Francisco calls at Dunsmuir once a day at half past midnight so I sat around town and chatted to a few locals.
 Rural Americans are very friendly in my experience. They see a stranger and say hello. They ask how you're doing because they're interested to know how you're doing. The tradition of hospitality is very strong. 
 As midnight approached I headed to where the Amtrak stops. Dunsmuir used to be an important railroad town and the freight trains still change drivers there. I was thrilled when an epic Southern Pacific freight train stopped for a short while, then pulled out blowing its horn and ringing its bell. It was well over a hundred cars long pulled by four engines, with another one pushing from behind!
 A little band of travelers gathered at the stop. A rancher from further north arrived in a pick up truck to drop off a farmhand. If you took a black and white photograph of these two they could have stepped out of the 1940s. In period dress they might have looked like a Wyeth painting. The rancher heard my English accent and noted that he was of German ancestry. We spoke of the wildfire that had been burning to the north and he mentioned matter-of-factly that he had saved his home by ploughing a firebreak around it.
 Since returning to the UK the Carr Wildfire has broken out to the south. The section of track between Redding and Klamath Falls has been closed (about 140 miles). Dunsmuir is the stop between them which could have scuppered my plans had I arrived later in the month.
 I've been back a few weeks now and the memories are still very vivid but it seems like a long time ago. I made it back to Dunsmuir exhausted but exhilarated. To be honest I was thinking I can't put myself through that kind of effort again.
 Then I noticed a schedule at a bus stop. They've introduced a summer bus service from Dunsmuir which goes through Weed and Yreka to Etna. I could hike 5 or 10 miles out of Etna and pick up the PCT into the Marble Mountains Wilderness which is said to be incomparable for wildflowers...