July 21st, 2022 by Jon
We woke up in our pine-covered spot and enjoyed a luxuriously long breakfast before heading out at 6:30. The trail was beautiful this morning, and we enjoyed walking through dark pine forests that were still covered in shadow as the sun hadn’t come over the ridge yet. We wound through the forest, continuing up the rest of a small climb up the mountain before descending again. When we crossed the top, we went over an old dirt road right on top of the ridge, where we saw a few other hikers that we had leapfrogged with all day yesterday.
We walked downhill and caught up to Missile, who told us a bear was up off the trail just now, saw him, and sprinted down the hill away from him only seconds ago. We could still hear the sounds of some large animal crashing around in the brush down the hill. Pretty cool. We continued on and pushed through overgrown trail, winding our way down the mountain before reaching a small creek, where we stopped and had a snack while we filtered some water.
We kept going after that and continued downhill. The trail went along a small ledge high up on the side of a mountain, offering great views of a tree-covered valley. At certain points, the pine trees would disappear, and we would be left with only a few oak trees to protect us from the sun’s gaze that was now peaking over the ridge. We wound our way around one last mountain before entering a small side canyon where we could hear running water down below. We continued deeper into the canyon and soon came to a large 40-foot-long bridge that spanned Squaw Valley Creek. The PCT was off to the left once we crossed the bridge, but we went right to fill water here. It would be the last water we would pass until the Sacramento River, which is all the way by I-5. We grabbed a few liters, and then I used the pit toilet at the trailhead, another quarter mile away. Always nice to take advantage when you can.
When I came back, Biscuit and Missile were already gone. We had a big 7-mile climb to the top of the mountain, then a long descent down the other side to reach the road. We began the climb, and it quickly showed its teeth as being one mother of a climb. The trail wound its way switchbacking back and forth up the mountain as we gained elevation. It crossed a couple of dirt road intersections, where it actually became kinda tricky to find the trail again. It was a slog, and I threw on headphones to listen to some music to push me up the hill. After about 4 miles, I ran into Missile, who was lying back, eating a snack, and taking a break. His eating made me hungry, and I said I was going to head to the campsite in another mile or so before stopping for lunch myself. He said he would stop there, too.
The last push took me past lots of manzanita bushes before going back into the trees, and soon a small campsite at a ledge came into view. I found a shady spot to sit down, and Singsong a Missile joined me within 5 minutes. We all ate and enjoyed the chance to cool down. The trail was fairly shaded, but the effort of climbing in this heat is pretty tiring and makes us all feel quite hot. Thankfully, we have enough water that we can be kinda greedy and don’t need to ration it. That’s the benefit of doing big water carries when your food bag is so light.
We kept pushing along a small ridge after lunch and had spectacular views of Mt. Shasta, Black Butte, and the Castle Crags. We were going a little bit uphill still at this point, but it had become much flatter than before. I caught up to Singsong at a trail junction a little later, and we took a road alternative so we could be on a more exposed ridge before a steeper descent than the trail had us do. The views were absolutely incredible, and I’m glad we took the other trail. We reconnected with the PCT after a mile or so and texted Singsong’s brother that we were getting close to the road. He has the food we bought in Redding for the next section and kindly agreed to bring it to us. We hiked down the mountain in the shade of thick trees. It was peaceful, and soon we began hearing the sound of the freeway even when we were still miles away.
We took a long break at a campsite halfway down to pass some time because we knew we would have to wait a little bit anyway, and Missile and I enjoyed a nice conversation. Singsong and Biscuit were both on their own roll, so they didn’t stop. Honestly by the time we were taking this break 2 miles up Biscuit was probably already at the bottom waiting. She was flying today! We got back on track and crushed out a few more miles before coming across the 1,500-mile marker. We took a picture, and Singsong took a small break there, waiting for me so we could take one together.
We quickly got to the bottom of the trail after that and signed a trail log before waiting with Biscuit at the trailhead. Our ride was only about 25 minutes away! We took some time to change into different clothes that we hoped didn’t smell too bad, then walked down to the Upper Sacramento River to check it out. We found drinks there just chilling in the shallow part of the water! There were cans of soda, beer, and even a couple of Gatorades. Pretty sweet. We all took a beverage and then chilled by the trailhead and soon Titus came and got us. We packed our bags into the car and headed over to Yaks on the 5 for some excellent burgers and beer. If you have never been there, please go if you drive on I-5 through Dunsmuir. The food is incredible, and they make every part of the burger and the sauces from scratch. It’s amazing. We have been talking it up since the desert section, with all these places claiming to have the best burger on the PCT. All those claims were total baloney. We all agreed this was the best burger we have had on trail so far.
Feeling quite full, we made a reservation for a place to stay in Etna because we wanted a bed there, and it’s a small town. I’m glad we got something because we booked the last Airbnb for the night we plan to be there, and both hotels were already full. We grabbed drinks from the gas station next door before jumping back in the car and heading to the state park, which is right on the other side of I-5, and it’s only a short hike off the PCT. We can camp there for $5 and they have water, electric outlets, and showers. We organized our resupply, charged devices, and hung out at the designated PCT hikers’ site, which is part of a small loop away from the other sites. Only one other hiker is here tonight, so we have it pretty much to ourselves. We charged our devices in the bathrooms and kept an eye on them from afar while we set up the rest of our camp. We also took turns using the shower and did our best to wash our dirty clothes. We all had to wait a bit to air-dry because none of us had towels before putting on our other clothes and hanging stuff out to dry. It’s still pretty hot overnight, and we’re hopeful it will dry by morning.
Tomorrow we plan to sleep in an extra hour or so before hitting the side trail to make it back up to the PCT around 8:00. We have a big climb to get out of this canyon but after that it’s pretty cruise-y all the way to Etna.
