PCT through the Castle Crags Wilderness

Since I arrived, I’ve been thinking about hiking up and over Castle Lake’s high wall to find the PCT. It seemed so close on the topo maps I found in the cabin; there had to be a way. Brooke gave me the tip I needed by pointing out a use trail on our hike up to Heart Lake.

Noone else here seemed as enamored with long distance trails as I was, so I made it happen this weekend when everyone else was out of town. On the way up, I stopped to call Mommy, and got a surprise when Matt beeped in. (Side note: Since we’re both in and out of cell phone service, Matt and I usually only get to leave voice messages for each other. And when we do connect, conversations end abruptly as one of us loses service. But at least I get to hear him live for a little bit, so I’m happy.) I think the fact that I was out on an adventure made Matt happy.

The use trail peters out at the top of the ridge, so I picked my way down in the open areas. Amazingly, I came down on the trail right where someone had built a little cairn. I decided to head south on the PCT towards the towering, jagged mass that is Castle Crags.

The PCT is wide and smooth, and it just felt great to be moving fast down the trail again, swinging my trekking poles and with my turtle shell – aka pack – on my back.

I ended up hiking downhill ten miles to the state park boundary and then returned four miles to camp at Burstarse Creek for the night. The reasoning was that I wanted to climb the exposed switchbacks before the sun came up over the mountains. I timed it very well, reaching the top - and I even had my camera in hand – as it crested the Castle Crags.

Afterwards in town this afternoon, I find myself thumbing through the PCT databook… oh, just looking. ;-)