Day 7: Into the Cascades

PCT Mile 1292.7 to 1312.0

Miles Hiked = 19.3

I camped last night near the other “senior” hiker that I mentioned a blog or two ago – the one with the heavy backpack. His name is John and I like him quite a lot. He told me a story of how he once accidentally lost his backpack in Kings Canyon – it fell over a ledge and got lodged underwater in a stream. He was actually traveling cross-country (i.e. not on a maintained trail) and wandered around for three days in a t-shirt before he found his way back to his car. Apparently he did have his car keys! I told you he was tougher than me! And not as smart!

Anyway, I knew I had a big uphill climb this morning so was on the trail at 6:30am. Yesterday I had only climbed up about 1200 feet in elevation – I still had 3600 feet over the next eight miles. Off I went.

After a while I stopped and filtered some water for the remaining uphill trudge

I crossed through another beautiful mountain meadow

As you can see it was another beautiful day with clear blue skies. I soon came to a sign that announced that I had entered the Cascade Range.

On the opposite side of the sign was a “Welcome to Sierra Nevada” for southbound hikers.

As I neared the top I passed another spring and filled up once again.

I don’t like to carry any more water than I have to because it is so heavy. Every time I come to a stream or spring I “camel up” – drink up as much as I can. Then I figure out how much water I need to carry to get me the next watering hole.

Finally after over four hours of hiking I reached the top and enjoyed another view of Mt. Lassen

Then I started down on the other side

In the early afternoon I stopped for lunch at Cold Spring which empties into a fenced-in trough

The path continued on and I was able to make good time

I had some distant views of Lake Almanor – my father and step-mom had retired there back in the early 1980’s. They lived there for almost twenty years. Donna and I have fond memories of visiting them with our children.

Late in the afternoon the trail went through an area with more volcanic rocks

Finally I made it to my intended camping spot and set up my tent. I had a couple of curious visitors that didn’t seem too afraid of humans

Thanks for reading!