Day 116 (13 August) - Mile 1425.26 - 1444.77

Campsite at Upper Jake Spring to Campsite at Moosehead Creek

I slept better than expected only waking up twice with a coughing fit. I woke up still not feeling well, but my throat wasn't as sore as yesterday so that's something. I packed my stuff and took my time leaving the tent since the mosquitoes were lined up waiting for me.

I finally got out and quickly ate breakfast, packed my bag, and sat in a ball trying to avoid mosquitoes while Share Bear and Brad filtered water. We were all finally ready to hike at 7:24 AM.

Ready to hike.

Today's hike starts with a 4 mile climb then roller coasters for the rest of the day. The climbs are what are giving me the most trouble since breathing hard makes my throat hurt, so I just have to get through the first couple of hours and then I should be good.

This is a PCT sign we hadn't seen before:

PCT sign of the day.

Most of the day we were in pine forest which was good since it was really hot and the trees provided much needed shade.

Typical trail for today.

We did pop out of the trees just before 11:00 AM and got an awesome view of Mount Shasta:

Mount Shasta.

Just after taking this picture we hiked on and I saw Share Bear reacting to something just ahead. Then I noticed motion in the bushes and the sound of a rattlesnake. Needless to say, I took a long route around the bush. Yep...we are now below 6,000 feet so the rattlesnakes are back in play...oh goodie.

Rattlesnake detour.

The trail in the afternoon was similar to this mornings, hiking through a pine forest:

Self-portrait "PCT sign"

The trail in the afternoon was similar to this mornings, hiking through a pine forest:

Share Bear hiking ahead.

We then popped out again to views of Mount Shasta.

Self-portrait "Mount Shasta"

This is where the trail stops going north and heads west for a few days right towards Mount Shasta. I guess we will get used to this view then:

Incredible view of Mount Shasta.

Just a few miles from our planned stop for the night, we came across this sign hanging on a tree. We have no idea what these chemicals are, but I will look it up when we get to town.

Interesting

We finally arrived at camp at 7:15 PM and found Puck had already set up his camp. Puck is from Philadelphia, but is moving somewhere out west after his thru-hike is complete. We would have liked to hike three more miles, but we were all done. This means that tomorrow we will need to hike 23 miles if we want to make it to a campground that probably had picnic table...you know how much we like picnic table. Hopefully the tables will be motivation to get us there tomorrow. Until then...

Home for the night.