Pacific Crest Trail : Dunsmuir to Seiad Valley

Miles this section : 154
Miles completed : 1653

Castle Crags - that's what the State Park is called, the trail notes use
 the Spanish form 'Castella' which is presumably the original name.

I start what is meant to be a zero by walking the railway (marvelling at the rotten, splintered sleepers supporting the tracks) back to the trail, then a further two miles the other side of it to Castella - another state park, plus gas station and minimart.  This would be a bad place to resupply, but the freshly made burritos are good, one each for breakfast and lunch does me nicely.  Camping here only costs five dollars, a bit more suited to my hobo budget, as are the coin operated showers.  Not done with hiking, I walk seven or eight miles, at least with a light pack, to do two miles of trail, not sure this is smart.  And then, of course, I get some beer, and wanting a change from burritos, buy ground beef and make burgers to cook over the fire, this is a good thing.

Man Eaten Lake.  Yes, really.

My pack feels heavy now, with six days of food, well it is one hundred and fifty miles to the next resupply - the original plan was eight days for this section, but I need to make up time.  The walk out from Castella begins with a climb of some five thousand feet, hard work, at least the trail is in a good state and in the end I manage twenty-five miles, then more long miles the next day, a nice walk with lots of flat, and views of lakes and, still, Mount Shasta.  There are many day hikers on the trail, apparently it is Saturday... a hot day though, and the path is stony underfoot, it is rather like the desert, but with trees - I even see a snake.  I end the day with sore feet, not great, nor are the many mozzies at camp, on the plus side it is before 7pm so I can get some rest.

In the Marble Mountain Wilderness.

Savlon seems to help with the feet, and it is good to get an early start after my early finish yesterday, I'm still going.  There is lovely walking here, woods, lakes, but I'm doing just a few miles too many each day, given the need to make up time - even five hundred miles past them, the Sierras are still causing problems for me.  Running low on savlon, I try using lip balm, it seems to work, the feet are stable and I am maintaining twenty-five or twenty-six miles per day, good enough.

The walking gets harder, continual steep up and down on stony ground, very pretty though - the Sierras must be like this beneath the snow, in fact there is some snow up here... for a moment I think there is a lot, but in fact there are big outcrops of white marble, this being the Marble Mountain Wilderness.  I'm still doing the miles, making camp on an exposed saddle twenty-five miles from resupply at Seiad Valley - I have to unearth a large rock to make a flat spot.  Then down, down, fast walking along Grider Creek, into a heat wave, my feet will need a rest tomorrow, but that's OK, and I reach Seiad in time for a shower, some burritos and beer, all good.  I even watch a movie!  It is not very good...

That exposed saddle camp spot.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.