Miles hiked: 22.3
It was another early morning of soft peach and Chardonnay out to the east through the trees, building to rich tangerine as the sun crested the horizon and rose through thin cirrus. There was a welcome breeze through the trees as the trail climbed up from where I'd camped. All yesterday I had been deep down in canyons and hadn't gotten any views of Shasta. But this morning as I climbed I could see her again, and noticed that I'd traveled far enough west to now see Shastina, that smaller cone on the northwest side of the main peak. It was another quiet morning bird-wise, and I saw a few juncos that were clearly molting their tails; I suppose breeding season is done in these low hot areas where spring comes early and late summer is blazing.
After 5 miles climbing it was time to go back down, the trail circling down around a peak then making mile-long switchbacks on down to I-5. Somewhere along there I heard the begging calls of a Stix owlet (likely either Spotted or perhaps Barred), and spent 10 minutes wandering circles trying to find it in the tall tree but had no luck. By the bottom of the 10 mile descent I was starting to slow down and have some phantom pains moving around my feet.
The trail joined a paved road and used its bridge to cross what I'm pretty sure is the Sacramento River. I took a quick dip in the pool under the bridge then started the 2 mile walk to Castella.
It was hot and getting hotter when I arrived to the little gas station-mini mart and post office that appears to be most of town. I really only stayed there long enough to sort my resupply and have some drinks and snacks and charge my phone and battery. Then SHEnanigans and I got a ride back to the the river crossing, where we rinsed clothes and did the slippery-rock walk in to cool off then lounged and napped for a couple hours.
I started hiking again at 5:30, crossing under I-5 and starting up the side of the big monolith of Castle Crags. When I drove from Oregon to the Bay Area just before the hike, I pulled off at this exit and walked up to where the trail starts and peered up it, trying to look into my future, wondering what experiences would bring me back to this point.
The trail climbed up through forest a couple miles then began sidehilling around below the spires of Castle Crags. It passed a small creek where there had been a recent fire and the red retardant dropped from planes was still streaked across the ground and there was a sign saying not to drink the water. I wonder how long it takes for those chemicals to wash out. And I wonder if "out" really exists.
Hiked until about 8:30 and made camp on the crest of a ridge under an oak. It was still very hot, and I sat there in just my shorts inside the bug shelter with skeeters and ants outside, and sweated through my too-hot and too-spicy dinner.
Birds:
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Northern Flicker
Oregon Junco
Steller's Jay
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Bushtit
Brown Creeper
Spotted Towhee
Strix owlet
Western Screech-owl
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