6/28/17 – Perfect Campsite

Day 66
Miles: 1,416.54 to 1,432.10

Total miles hiked: 848.25
My body works in such mysterious ways. My Achilles was acting funny all day yesterday, I thought I strained it, and I was worried how it would handle the trail today. We only planned to go 15 miles, not a record breaking distance but on these 15 miles we were to gain 4,000 feet which was much more than we’ve done lately.

At 6:00 a.m. we said our good bye to the amazing veils of Burney Falls and stepped back on PCT. It was an enjoyable side trip, and I wish we had a chance to slow down more often and perhaps we can. There are reports of snow still present in the area of Trinity Alps and with snow covering good part of the trail, the traverse is rather technical and many people are skipping the section. If we keep mileage low, the snow might have a chance to melt before we get there.

Most of the today the trail took us through a mature forest, mix of evergreens and oaks. For once I was thankful for the dense tree cover. The day was hot and I was perfectly happy to sacrifice views for shade.

The grand view of today was from our site. When I scanned the landmarks in Halfmile app in the morning, I noticed exposed site with a view of Mt. Shasta in the list. I knew right away that I wanted to check it out.

The view was perfect. We got to share the site with Tetris, Spider Mama, and Hitch whom we haven’t seen since Reno. They gave us heads up on snow conditions north, it seems like Trinity Alps are still not passable which is not what we wanted to hear, but things can change before we get there.