Day 106: Mount Shasta to mile 1516.9
7.30.18. 15.7 miles.
I got to sleep in again this morning, so nice! I slowly got my things together, and then walked back to the organic grocery to get breakfast: a vegan burrito bowl with a smoothie, and brought it back to my room to eat in bed while watching Friends. I have to give a shout-out to TBS for ALWAYS having Friends on. It’s been pretty great when I have tv access. I texted Tony to see what time he could bring me back to the trail since he told me the day before to let him know when I wanted to go back. He said he’d pick me up at 10:30. Cool. I still had lots of time to braid my hair and continue watching tv.
A little after 10:30, we were back on the road to the trail. I said goodbye and thank you to Tony, and headed off. It was already pretty hot, and most of the day was climbing. The first few miles were pretty much just forest again, but every so often the trees would break and I would have a view of the Castle Crags, though they were covered in thick smoke. I took a lunch break at a water source about 6 miles in, and then another break after more climbing about 5 miles after that.
Then there was the really big climb, which I ended up starting around 4. I wasn’t too thrilled about the timing, and it was still hot, but at least the first half was in the forest. I put on Harry Potter to help me through the climb. It was very distracting too, since I was in the last chapters of the first book. So much action! I got some more views of the castle crags, but again, with so much smoke. I finally reached the top of the climb and got to my last water source before camp. There, I ran into Chef, who I hadn’t seen since Casa de Luna! He goes by Muffin Man now, and I totally didn’t recognize him and felt bad when he greeted me by name. It was great to catch up though! I decided to only camp a little bit further after the water because I didn’t want to hike another 2 miles, and it was already 7.
I didn’t see too many people on trail today, but I ended up camping with some people I met at the last water source. I’m just happy they’re not noisy. We were all in bed by 8! Tomorrow will probably be a long day for me as the miles don’t appear to be too challenging, so hopefully guthooks doesn’t lie and I can have a productive day tomorrow!