Start point
Deadfall Lakes, mile 1537.8
End point
Masterson Meadow Junction, mile 1557.1
Miles hiked
19.3
Wilderness area
Shasta National Forest
People I met
Scrambles and Semicolon
Cookie
Flamethrower
The day on trail
It’s always nice to wake up at a lake and not be covered in condensation.
I woke up and found a couple tiny holes in my tent door. Luckily, Beth gave me some fun patches before I went on trail and one of the patches perfectly fit the holes, with a little extra to spare.
I got my tent patched, ate breakfast, brushed my teeth, and headed out.
This mountain misspelled my name, but oh well.
The trail had a delightful spring I was able to fill up from.
One thing I’ve noticed is that the trail is often sloping off to my left. When it changes direction and drops off on my right, it kind of throws off my muscle memory and equilibrium for a little bit. That slight reversal in grade under my feet and the views of which way to lean and favor take a bit to get used to.
Back to normal.
I came to a parking lot where I saw Blaze’s van. This is telling me I must be near a bubble. Because I haven’t seen a ton of people, I’m inclined to think I’m a little behind it.
Interestingly, lots of people here have “State of Jefferson” license plate frames. It’s a long standing movement for Northern California and southern Oregon to secede from their respective states and form their own. It has to do mainly with water rights, but I’m always suspicious of secessionists and suspect there’s a bit of racism mixed in. Old habits.
This pretty fly landed on my hand. I love when gossamer insects choose me for a moment.
The trail stretched on, winding through trees, mountain views, and an old lightning strike.
I came to a bunch of flowers.
And a rocky field with beautiful textures and colors.
This deer was so chill around me. She let me just snap photo after photo of her.
After the deer I ran into something I’m only used to seeing in traffic. A flagged hazard.
Some fallen tree had made effectively a joust which you could easily miss with tricks of depth perception, and it was flagged so you didn’t run into it. It was surprising and funny in its own way.
There was this completely broken down sign that was assembled to convey its message.
Who doesn’t love a 26 piece puzzle?
The sun started to go down as we got to camp.
After setting up, it was dinner time and then bed, as usual. Nonny set up near me and our new friends, Cookie and Flamethrower were also nearby.