The difference between adventure and ordeal is your attitude.
~Amy, super great teacher
I 5 at Castle Crags to Upper Gumboot Lake, mile 1534
22 miles
Started the day with an awesome ride from Dunsmuir to the trail head from two very nice gentlemen and their very cute and friendly dog. Thank you big!!!
I got a lot of sleep on the train and I felt great. Today was a simply exquisite day. The trail was snow free and in great shape. I did have a 5000 feet elevation gain, but it was a steady, gentle grade with mostly tree or cloud cover the entire day. Little water creeklets met the hiker at every bend. I was able to relax and enjoy the day and the never-ending views. I love this area and would like to come back. Unfortunately, the huge hulk Mount Shasta was under cloud cover the entire day.
I also felt surprisingly strong. At this lower elevation my heart rate stayed low and steady. Sickness be gone. I am thankful.
PCTA trail maintenance crew were out in full force. I enjoyed talking with them. A big shout out to them!!!! I also talked with a few PCTers that were hiking southbound.
I had a bit of a challenge during the last couple hours of daylight. It poured buckets of rain. I made the decision to hike through it because I needed to find a place to camp. When the trail follows the crest it makes it hard to find a flat spot. I practically ran for 2 hours and found an awesome site with an amazing view of Mount Shasta (if the clouds were not covering it). Yeah for a normal backpacking day!
My first chance to get back to the computer as we were gone. So glad that your first day went so well and the train ride worked out. Looking forward to hearing more, I so enjoy telling people what MY daughter-in-law is doing!! the looks I get and the comments like, “Wow, you are kidding! I would never do that.” give me a chuckle.
Ya well you know I have never believed in doing anything the easy way. No pain no gain. Right. 🙂
so glad you’re healthy… praying you’ll stay that way.
Thank you for your prayers. I am doing super.