Popcorn met up with me just after 6 o’clock at my campsite and we’re headed out at 6:15 in continuing beautiful forest.
Pacific Dogwood. It has this large white flower, very beautiful and is all along the trail
Just after this stream we found the Mahala Mat. It is a purple flowered ground cover lining our walk this morning.
We soon came across a larger grove
of Pacific dogwoods in bloom.
Vine Maples are beginning to line the Trail as well
False Hellebores have these wide green leaves. It is growing among Creeping Strawberry. Unfortunately I don’t see any actual strawberries.
We occasionally hear the Rat-a-tat-tat of wood Peckers. The holes in this tree are the first visible evidence I’ve actually seen of one.
We continue to have lush, beautiful green trail before us.
The trail opened up to a plateau with endless views of tree covered mountains.
There is another stunning view of Mount Shasta.
Spreading Phloxes, with their purple flower, are growing in this barren rock section we have just entered.
Mount Shasta is just over my right shoulder in the distance. Also, in this sparse rock covered area is the purple Nuttall’s Larkspur.
We still are occasionally coming across patches of snow covering the trail.
More beautiful views as we come to this somewhat open area full of Red Fir trees
With all of the snow melt, we are regularly crossing small streams. Between the streams and the regular water flowing down trail I’ve given up on keeping the feet dry today and I’m just trudging through the water…. not the best combination with the blisters I still have.
This section of the trail and the stream has become one
More beautiful flowered Pacific Dogwoods line this portion of the trail.
Off to the side of the trail down the hill a little are some really neat rock features formed from erosion.
The trail takes us along the ridge line with incredible views off to the left. There’s an eroded valley directly beneath us, pine forests, snow, covered mountains, and Mount Shasta.
We arrived to our campsite which appears to be part of an old logging road. It’s right out on the edge of the mountain side and has absolutely gorgeous views of the valley and surrounding mountains. Mount Shasta is clearly visible. We have a good open view of the sky. I set up my tent with the fly rolled open, so I should be able to have beautiful views both going to sleep and waking up.
Today turned out to be much better than expected. Our hiking app had user comments that led us to believe we would have 5 to 7 miles of full snow today. We had small sections of patchy snow, never more than 50% of the trail covered in any given mile. The snow has rapidly melted, which is great news for us. I hope it continues to do that moving forward.
Today’s PCT miles hiked 14.4
Total PCT Miles hiked to date 900.2
PCT mile marker 1443.1
(Flipped over 542.8
