Day 127&128 Miles 1502-1528

Start: 1502.7 End: 1506 Total: 3.3

We slept at our trail angels Michaels house that night in a cozy bed. We slept in a bit then made pancakes and eggs! After we took a couple bikes and hit the town to take care of some chores. 

We went to the gear shop but they didn’t have what I was looking for. I then went to the coffee shop while Nick looked for new shoes. I thought about shooting Rocky a message as I walked into the coffee shop, I wasn’t sure where she was. I got my coffee and looked around for a place to sit, I turned the corner and to my surprise Rocky was right there!

She had spent a week in Portland visiting her sister and was back in town to hike Mt. Shasta. We chatted for a bit and eventually Trouble and Tuah came in. They are on a time crunch, needing to finish by mid August so will skip ahead to be able to get to Canada. 

When the coffee shop closed we went and hung out behind the gear shop in the shaded lawn. It took Nick about 4 hours to get a new pair of shoes but hopefully these wouldn’t hurt his feet so bad. 

We said our goodbyes to Tuah and Trouble and went back to Michael’s to eat some lunch and grab our things. We then walked to the grocery store, did a resupply then took the bus to the trailhead. 

It was a super steep climb immidiatley and we only went a few miles to the first water source and campsite. Mango, Hilldoggo and Payload were all there as well. 

Day 128

Start: 1506 End: 1528.1 Total: 22

We had a late start to the day, got going around 7:30. It was a bit up and down but mostly the same elevation for the first 6.7 miles, slightly uphill. We had great views of castle crag mountains above us, we would soon be rising to their level. 

We took a break right before the steep part and got some water before beginning the 4 miles and over 2000 feet of climbing.  I powered through listening to the last few hours of Lord of the Rings. We took a small break halfway up then got more water at the top of the steep four miles. 

We hiked 3.6 more miles to a campsite I had heard about from a former hiker back in Yosemite. there were beautiful views of both Mt. Shasta and the Castle Crag. I drank the beer D&D gave me before we took the bus, they owed me a beer since I swam successfully out to the waterfalls & I had hiked it all the way up there. I was happy to get rid of that weight. After my beer I fell soundly asleep for about half an hour. 

We got going again after 4:30 with 7.6 miles to go. It was only hard because I felt so tired but it was through a forest then on a ridge where we could see where we were walking. Mantis picked out the saddle ahead and we both guessed at what time we would get there. It was 5:30 and o guessed 6:15, lo and behold we got there exactly at 6:15, I had nailed it. 

We went a few miles more and camped near a road with a steep .2 down to water. We watched a beautiful sunset before making dinner and going to bed.