The Adventures of...: Days 100, 101

Day 100, 24 miles, endpoint PCT mile 1478

The first half of today offered some great views of Mt. Shasta and surrounding hills and peaks. We climbed up to a steep ridge which we then spent several hours on, going up and down with constant views of the mountains and valleys.

We ended a 15 mile waterless stretch at Deer Creek Spring. The spring was icy, straight out of the ground, and we actually had a deer come visit us while we sat there taking a break.

After the ridge views of the morning we had a long 2,500 foot descent that was under thick tree cover. While it was boring hiking, the trees kept us cooler. Today was considerably hotter than yesterday, and even in the shade of the trees I was sweating all day long.

We briefly passed a hiker we had not yet met who was carrying a steel drum on the top of his pack. This is definitely the strangest thing we have seen anyone carrying. We heard later that evening that he goes into towns, plays his drums and attempts to get donations from passerbys to help fund his trip.

In the evening we stopped at McCloud River for dinner. Coming up to the river I was so hot, I had visions of jumping in the river and going for a swim. The turquoise water, however, was so cold, I could only manage to get my feet in for a few minutes.

We made camp off a little used national forest road and are now sitting in the tent, still sweating. It's 9:30pm and still hot; tomorrow will probably be another hot one.

If we do a big day (30+ miles) tomorrow, it's possible we will make it to Castella by the end of the day. We will see how the hiking goes; if not, we will get in the next morning.

trail views

Day 101, 30 miles, endpoint Castle Crags State Park (off the PCT near mile 1506)

Today was a long one, but we were rewarded with a shower at the end of the day at Castle Crags State Park! We started early with the goal of getting to the state park with enough time to stop at a store first and resupply, and we made it. Phew.

We had another great view of Mt. Shasta, which had grown even larger still. There were massive, billowing thunderhead clouds above it, as if the mountain was erupting. Sitting just behind Shasta was Mt. McLoughlin, visible for the first time this trip. Do you know where this mountain is? OREGON! We are getting so close! Unfortunately, we are still heading west, so getting to Oregon is a roundabout kind of thing.

One of the strangest things about today was our approach to Interstate 5. We started hearing the whirl of car and truck engines from several miles away. I knew the trail went past the freeway. In a weird way, I loved hearing the sounds of cars in the middle of the forest. It was motivation to keep going.

After many, many, many miles, we finally arrived at a trailhead at a paved road. Rock Ocean was there (the guy who gave us a ride back in Big Bear Lake nearly three months ago) and offered us a ride to nearby Mt. Shasta City, a fairly big town a ways down I-5. We are trying to minimize our town stops and keep up our pace so we passed, deciding instead to go to a store two miles away in Castella, CA.

We road walked the two miles to the store, bought groceries and had some mildly appetizing microwavable lasagna. The store in Castella was not great; the selection was poor and the prices were high. Dinners for the next night will be Top Ramen. Every night.

After the store we took a short side trail to the campground at Castle Crags. The coin-op, towelless showers were to die for and almost made up for the sounds of the freeway next door. It's as if a semi truck is coming straight for our tent about every 30 seconds. It will be nice to get back into the woods tomorrow for some quieter camping.