17 miles to the junction and 2 more into town. So again wake up at 4.15 and on the trail at 5am. Somehow I got the numbers wrong and thought we would hit water after the 5 mile climb. But bullshit! 😂 5 more to the water. So I had to run on 3/4 of a litre of water for the first three hours. Oops… Good that it was cool.
Mt. Shasta was getting closer and closer. A beautiful mountain. Maybe a side-project…? 😊
We had a few switchbacks and therefore many opportunities to throw a “You are goooing the wroooong waaay!” The story behind that is the story of let’s call him D. A hiker we met on the third day of the hike. He had pitched his tent and didn’t stake it down. And then it blew down a cliff with all his stuff in it. We met him in Mt. Laguna when he got back on the trail with new gear. He left a bit earlier than us. And when we got back on the trail later on he came towards us waving his arms and poles screaming with full conviction: “You are going the wrong way!”. We looked at him a bit irritated and asked “Why? Where are you going?” “I am going to Canada and you are going the wrong way!” To complete the picture he had his map and compass hanging around his neck in a waterproof bag and his phone with GPS in the other. He was obviously stressed out and a bit confused. Maybe there is a connection to the tent story… 🙊
Well, we looked at the map with him together and he explained to us: “Everything was alright. I was going north and the compass showed north. But then when I got on the part down here I was going south again. So I must have taken a wrong turn or so?!” OMG… We really had to hold on to not burst out laughing. He went in a switchback and of course he went south for the time until the switchback would reverse again. 🙈 He obviously had no clue what he was doing here… He would have been stuck in the vortex of the switchbacks for weeks with no chance to leave… 😂😂😂 We helped him, tried to explain and helped him to find the next camp ground. Now every time we are in switchbacks or someone is coming towards us we yell “You are gooooing the wrooong waaaay!” at each other. 😉
And then we surprised a deer with her two fawns on the trail. The fawns couldn’t have been older than a week according to their wobbling. The mom though was very chilled. Whenever we got about 70-100 feet close she would just continue walking down the trail a bit. But not in a rush. She twice tried to walk up the slope to leave the trail. But the fawns couldn’t follow. It was too steep for the fawns. One tried and tumbled down a few feet. So we gave them space to continue on the trail. And on one of the flatter spots she left the trail with the two little ones. One of the curtest shots of the trail so far… 😍
More wildlife along the way. This is one of the prettiest lizards I have seen so far.
And then – we ran into some serious snow patches on the trail. We had to traverse some very steep slopes and really dig into the snow to hold on.
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Good, that we all had proper mountaineering skills and a badge signed by the governor… 😂😂😂 (read about the badges and the governor here…).
We arrived at 12 o’clock – 19 miles before 12! That’s good 🤘🏼
Castella literally consists out of a little post office and a gas station. We picked up our packages, had a few sodas, snacks and other calories to begin with and then hitch hiked to Mt Shasta. The other four did get a ride before us (unbelievably – Kaylee??? What has happened to your Kaylee-factor???) and our ride – a weed grower from the area had a meeting up north. So when we approached our exit we had to find out that the ramp was closed he dropped us off on the highway since he was on a tight schedule. So we had to had to walk back through the construction site – how annoying at 100F and with a load of packages. But what can you do as a hitch hiker 😂
Typical town chores: food, food, food. So again the Mexican. And while we were waiting for the bus to get us to our hotel Bangerang texted me asking me when my bus was leaving??? Took me a few seconds to understand and then I saw him on the other side of the road in his van. This guy is hilarious! I have no clue how he always shoes up where I am. What a great surprise. He gave us a ride of course and joined for the Mexican.
Tomorrow is planning day. We will hit the Trinity Alpes and apparently there is still snow and some gnarly parts. I guess we’ll need mountaineering experience again… 🤔
