Day 99

Mile 1498 to 1514, 16 miles

Cost: camped, free
I had the best night sleep yet!! Then had a delicious breakfast of brown cow yoghurt (has a cream top), berries and granola for breakfast, followed by coffee downstairs with Jeff and Carin. Then it was time to leave 😦

Jeff and Carin drove us back to the trailhead via the post office to send some food to the next town then we filled up our water bottles with spring water from Mt Shasta city park – delicious!!

KC and I with Jeff and Carin

We said goodbye to Jeff and Carin at the trailhead at about midday – thank you so much for your kindness and generosity!

It was forecast to be a 96 degree Fahrenheit day (35 celcius) and it already felt incredibly hot. We sat at the trailhead and contacted the others to see where they were at. They replied saying they were going to wait out the heat of the day in Castella and start later in the afternoon.

We sat at the trailhead for 2.5 hours trying to delay a 20 mile 5000 foot gain hike…

The mileage on this app (Guthook) doesn’t match Halfmile’s mileage

Within minutes of starting to walk, my calves were burning… the trail was incredibly steep and relentless. 2 miles after starting we went past the 1500 mile mark, (2,400km)  🙂

At each stream that we crossed, I took off my shirt and dipped it in the water then put it back on wet trying to cool down my body. I was dizzy from the heat and felt like I would be able to sleep standing up.

It was one of the hardest days that I can remember having because of the non-stop climbing and debilitating heat but at least we had stunning views of Castle Crags and Mt Shasta.

Burstarse creek – an intetesting name!

In the late afternoon, as if someone was looking after us, storm clouds rolled in and the temperature cooled down.  We only got a few drops of rain but the thunder was right above us and was deafeningly loud and terrifying! 

There was a gorgeous sunset and we managed to find a small campsite on a switchback. I set up my tent and KC set up her stuff to cowboy camp, hoping it wouldn’t start to rain in the night. We ate dinner watching lightning light up the sky all around us.