Start point
Tentsite at mile 1490.5
End point
Mt Shasta, via I-5 intersection at mile 1502.3
Miles hiked
11.8
Wilderness area
Shasta National Forest
The day on trail
Let’s go to town!
We woke up early because it was almost 12 miles to get to a spot to get to town. So we have a good four hours, minimum, of hiking before we can get a ride. Tomorrow is a holiday, so we need to make sure all our chores get done today, most importantly getting to the post office, laundry, and gear resupply. The gear shops in Mt. Shasta and the post office are closed for Independence Day, though the grocery store shouldn’t be. We’re not sure about the laundromat, but it’s not worth risking it.
The early wake up got us to see Mt. Shasta, the mountain not the town, at sunrise. Holy smokes was it something else.
There was another rocky feature near Shasta that was really intriguing to me.
We followed a ridgeline trail alternate down the mountain, so we could keep getting views of the mountain. This particular one was on an old dirt road.
One of the things I really enjoy out here is that yes, there’s an official trail. Often, though, it intersects with other trails and systems, so you can build your own route based on what you want. We were particularly delighted with these views.
Eventually the road joined back up with the trail and we got back on the PCT proper. This particular area had really cool rock work on its switchbacks.
Someone had spelled out “1500” in pinecones. I don’t know if they were marking the 1,500th mile they hiked or they were marking the official mile marker. It’s hard to tell sometimes and, frankly, I didn’t care enough to check the mileage there.
The trail continued on, winding through trees down a mountainside.
Soon, about 8:40 am, after an emergency cathole break, I came to a road crossing. I ran into Shortcut there and he told me there’s a bus heading from I-5 to Shasta at 9:04 am. It was about a quarter mile away.
Oh hell. I might not have to hitch!
We booked it and shortly I-5 was in sight.
Nonny had passed me during my cathole break and she was sitting on a lawn chair, by a table with drinks, next to a car. Someone had just set up for trail magic and Nonny caught them!
We talked with the angel for a bit. I had an orange juice and sleeve of pop tarts. She told us that the bus was, indeed, about to come at 9:04. It was about 8:58. But the pickup site was just about 300 yards. It would go through Dunsmuir, which is where I needed to get to the post office, then to Shasta.
It came and we boarded. Rustler and Razor joined Shortcut, Nonny, and me. I decided to get off at Dunsmuir for the post office, then find a way up to Shasta. Worst case scenario: I’d I have to wait for the next bus from Dunsmuir to Shasta which would be about two hours. No biggie.
I went to the post office and got my next map from Beth. I was hoping to get my replacement tent pole from Nemo, but they hadn’t arrived yet. It ended up that Nemo sent them UPS, not USPS, so there wasn’t a way to forward them from the post.
I headed over to a coffee shop where I ran into the Dutch hiking brothers. We caught up a bit and then I called UPS to see if they could update the address on my replacement pole segment.
I spent about an hour on the phone with UPS only to be told the seller has to initialize a change of address. I emailed Nemo to see if they could do that, because they were closed for their 20th anniversary.
At the coffee shop we met a guy who travels to different cities for a bit, basically a van lifer but with community housing rentals. He chatted us up and asked if we needed anything. I said the only thing I needed was a ride to Shasta. He was more than happy to bring the coffee he got for his friend back to his friend, then give me a ride. On his invitation, I walked back to his place with him, he dropped off the coffee, and I briefly met his friends and roommates. Then we got into his van, which had the driver’s side on the right because it was imported from Japan and he took me to Shasta.
I got off at the hotel Nonny booked and showered. We then went to start laundry. Eva and Swiss Cheese arrived shortly and we went downtown to Yak’s Shack, a burger joint that’s known for excellent food and good gluten free isolation, for Eva.
It was a really fun spot. They give out tickets that have little phrases on them, and when they call the ticket they’ll say some silly line about it. Like the ticket might be “big papa” and the call would be “I know you love it when I say this, Big Papa, you’re up” as a reference to the 90s song Big Poppa by Notorious BIG.
The food was excellent too.
There was a street fair going on and a Scottish trio was playing on the stage by where we were eating. They ended up playing a couple songs we knew. There’s a silly ballad about a Scot in a kilt getting a ribbon tied around his bits while he’s passed out drunk, which I sang along to. Everyone was like uh what the heck, how do you know this? They also sang the rattler bog song that Eva and Swiss Cheese pretended was the Canuck Stomp.
After that we went to some gear shops, which didn’t have the shoes I needed, but I was able to help Nonny find a new filter for her water bottle. Eva and SC started laundry while Nonny and I finished it. We got some shopping done for the hotel room.
Nonny and I went back to the room to rest while the girls ran their errands.
One of the things I was really trying to do was to get us invited to a cookout with some trail angels for the next day, Independence Day. Sadly, no one was taking me up on it, so when the girls got back we started planning our own cookout at the local park.
Nonny and I ran to the grocery store to get everything we needed for it, burgers of meat and fake meat, buns of both the gluten and non-gluten persuasions, and cheese, toppings, condiments, charcoal, and whatnot. It was a good haul and we were pumped for it.
We went back to the room and crashed. It was a busy, productive day.