June 25, 2016

Castle Crags Campground (mile 1499.6) to bushcamp with a view (mile 1516.4)

Miles: 16.8

Today we were waking at 6 am rather than walking. We ate Pad Thai for breakfast and drove up to the Castle Crags Vista Point parking lot. From there we walked half a mile to rejoin the PCT.

Once again Sue joined us for the first few miles. The trail was wide with subtle ups and downs and occasional glimpses of the rocky crags.

We passed 2 beautiful streams with large green plants scattered about. Initially most of the trail was in the shade of pine and oak trees.

We said goodbye to Sue before the real climbing began. She goes home today and we are grateful for the time she spent with us – driving us around, helping us run our town errands and hiking with us. Thanks Sue!!!

We started climbing after crossing the east fork of Sulphur Creek. At first we were in shady forest but not too long after we left the comfort of the shade for hot, exposed rock. The sweat fest began instantly. Our clothes clung to our bodies as we slowly put one foot in front of the other.

Halfway up we stopped for lunch in the shade. We chatted with some day hikers who offered us Fritos which we politely declined. We were carrying 5 days of food and having just left town we weren’t craving lots of salty food.

Skippy, a northbound thru hiker we met a few days prior was chilling in the shade as well. We waited out the heat of the day sharing stories and impressions from the trail thus far. Skippy has hiked the AT and rode his bike across Canada last summer.

Stories like these make Laurie wish she were in her 20’s again.

“There are so many cool adventures to go on!”

“Why can’t you still do them?”

“Because if we want to have a family, we have a timeline.”

“If there is a will, there are many ways.”

Such a classic Andy-ism.

I guess if we have kids they will ride along in our van as Laurie rides her bike across the country 🙂

It feels good to be in a pack again. The speedsters are ahead but occasionally we see them after towns. It is nice to know there are lots of people behind us, many of whom will be catching us at some point.

After a luxurious hour-long break we headed back out into the oppressive heat. We are thankful to be here in June when the temperature is in the high 80’s rather than in July when it can reach triple digits.

The trail continued up via long switchbacks. The views of Castle Crags behind us was stunning. Eventually we got high enough to see Shasta and Lassen too.

Finally the mountains gave away their secrets. These views. My goodness. The only way to get these views are to hike the PCT or take a helicopter ride.

Around 6 pm we crested a hill and enjoyed an even more impressive panaramic view of Shasta, Castle Crags and Lassen. There were a few tent spots right off the trail.

“This is too good to pass up.” Said Laurie as she turned to Andy.

“I agree. It’s not all about the miles. This is why we’re here.”

We had planned to camp a few more miles up the trail, but these views were epic.

So we sat and enjoyed “happy hour” Silver and Saver style – cheese and water.

The bumblebees hummed around us as we let the sun dry the sweat off of our backs.

We set up our tent and were joined by 2 Swiss women and Fixie, another hiker who jumped on the trail at Burney Falls.

We watched the alpine glow sweep across Shasta. Soonafter the sky lit up in pink and purple hues on the horizon.

“This is the best campsite of our hike thus far.”

“I agree.”

Tonight we are grateful for shade and seasonal springs.

June 24, 2016

Bushcamp (mile 1480.7) to Castle Crags State Park (mile 1499.6)

Miles: 18.9

Our bodies were tired so we allowed ourselves to sleep in. We were packed and walking by 7:30.

The trail was nicely groomed with patches of poison oak but nothing like what we had been through the day before.

We dropped down to Squaw Creek where we met High Mileage, another northbound thru hiker from Virginia Beach. We chatted for a bit before getting water and heading on.

From here the trail climbed. It was gradual but as High Mileage said as he passed us about half way up, “We are climbing Mt Forever!”

Thankfully the trail was mostly shaded and we had more of a breeze than we had felt in a week. The air was cool and the ground was soft under our feet.

As we reached the top we had a nice view of Shasta. It has been really fun to walk closer and closer to Shasta and see it from different angles. It is a beautiful mountain and we plan to return to climb it some spring.

From here the trail was mostly downhill. We stopped for a short break because we had cell service. Andy tried again to upload our blog posts but it kept failing. Arg!

We walked on, playing hangman to keep our minds sharp. 

Around 4 pm we got to Soda Springs road and Interstate 5. As we walked under the I-5 freeway a day hiker, who we had seen about 20 minutes earlier, stopped and offered us a ride to Anmirati’s Market.

We gladly took him up on his offer and within 15 minutes Laurie had a coconut popsicle in her mouth. We picked up our boxes and sorted through our food for the next 6 days.

Sue joined us about 30 minutes later. Laurie bought a coconut popsicle for her and another for herself. We devised a plan for the evening and parted ways.

We walked to the campground while Sue drove. Given her poison oak sensitivity and our exposure we didn’t want to get into the RV until we and our clothes were clean.

We showered (coin slots were broken so we got unlimited hot showers!) and then drove to Mt Shasta to do laundry and have Thai Food.

Andy has been craving Thai curry for over 500 miles. Although not as good as our favorite neighborhood Thai restaurant, the variety was tasty.

By the time we got back to the campground it was 9 o’clock. We cleaned our backpacks with alcohol swabs to get rid of any possible poison oak oils and crawled into our tent.

Andy sewed his gloves and Laurie blogged.

Town stops are never long enough. Hopefully we will tackle our To Do list on our next zero or nero in Etna, 5-6 days from now.

We are very grateful for Sue’s generosity and assistance in cleaning our clothes. We will start our next “backpacking trip” with relaxed minds knowing we are not at risk of poison oak.

Tonight we are grateful for laundromats and red Thai curry.

June 23, 2016

Dirt road (mile 1458) to bushcamp (mile 1480.7)

Miles: 22.7

We both woke up numerous times last night. The moon was so bright we could have hiked without a headlamps.

We had made a plan with Sue to meet her at Ash Campground at 10 am. We were hiking at 6 am, hoping to cover the 10.4 miles and be there on time.

The trail was downhill the whole way. The air was cool and refreshing – so much in fact that Andy considered wearing his fleece, an item of clothing we haven’t touched in days!

After 4 miles we hit poison oak. We had heard this section was known for having bad poison oak but we weren’t sure where it would begin. It was difficult to differentiate the 3 leafed beast from the many other green and vibrant looking plants.

Laurie kept talking to the plants in a similar fashion to the children’s book ‘Are you my mother?’

“Are you poison oak?”

“Are you poison oak?”

Finally we saw the familiar non symmetrical three leaved plant. Unfortunately it was common alongside the trail. We did our best to step around but sometimes we didn’t seem them until it was too late.

Sue met us eight tenths of a mile from Ash campground. Despite the warning that there would be poison oak on the trail she wanted to hike. It was a pleasant surprise to see a familiar hat bobbing along the trail towards us.

We hiked down together and shared an early lunch. Sue provided salad, blueberries, an apple and flavored nuts. Everything tasted wonderful- particularly the fruit. Thanks Sue!

With our early start and downhill trail we managed our second 10 miles before 10 am. The early mornings are hard initially but always worth it!

The three of us hiked north together after an hour of snacking. We crossed the milky looking McCloud River on a nice wooden bridge.

Since jumping back on the trail in Belden the river crossings have been easy. Streams and creeks are appropriately named and we only rarely get our feet wet.

Whenever we cross something on a bridge we look at one another through smiles and say “We could cross that if we needed to.” We have seen nothing like the Sierra “streams” and we hope this continues all the way to Canada.

Sue hiked 2.7 miles with us. The trail was well groomed and had less poison oak than the southern portion. We cruised over small ups and downs winding our way through the forest. The vibrant green plants offered a nice contrast to the brown bark and deep brown soil.

We ran into a couple that Sue had befriended the previous night. They had seen 2 cubs and a mama bear 10 minutes up the trail in the direction we were heading. Unfortunately we were not so lucky.

We hugged goodbye and Sue returned the way we had come. She will meet us tomorrow night for one last night together before heading home.

It has been wonderful sharing the trail experience with her and seeing her so happy. Trail life is magical, no matter how long you live it.

From there we climbed. It was hot and the trail traveled in and out of the sun. The wind was minimal and we were drenched in sweat by the end. We took a break near the top to cool off. The mosquitoes were around but not too bothersome.

Laurie was too hot to eat, Andy was distracted by editing a blog post. After about 30 minutes we walked on. The break helped us cool down and the heat didn’t feel as intense. The trail was mostly in the shade which helped as well.

About an hour later we got to a dirt road and the top of the climb. We took another break. Laurie fell asleep while Andy worked on the last few days’ pictures.

We walked on another mile before the real fun began. The poison oak got thicker, taller and more frequent. Our pace slowed, a lot!

It was mentally exhausting to scan the trail for poison oak amongst the other foliage.

We resorted to our previous strategy of calling out “left” or “right” but that quickly morphed into “both” and “shit, it’s everywhere!”

The nasty plant was shoulder tall in places, sticking out over the trail and hidden at ankle height while other large bushes covered the trail.

It was inevitable, the oils were on our clothes.

We walked on, mumbling to ourselves and hoping this wouldn’t last 20 more miles to Castle Crags State Park.

Luckily it didn’t.

We passed 2 southbound section hikers in their tents. They had started in Crater Lake a month ago and reassured us that the poison oak wasn’t bad further up the trail. This was a huge relief!

We chatted a bit and continued on. Our potential tentsite lay only a mile ahead.

We got to camp around 7 pm. The spot was small and slanted but we were tired and ready to settle in for the night.

We stripped out of our clothes and turned them inside out. We ate dinner and then a second dinner. The mosquitoes swarmed and buzzed outside our tent but then disappeared around 9:30 pm, just in time to brush our teeth.

We itched, not sure if from mosquito bites, poison oak irritation or our imagination. We suppose time will tell.

Tonight we are grateful for crisp and juicy apples and well groomed trails.