Up well before dawn to get a few miles in before it got miserably hot. But it was miserably hot even before the sun rose. I was camped in a deep dark gorge next to a stream and even so I spent the night on top of my quilt rather than under it.
The trail climbs directly up from the Sacramento River at 2000 feet to the Castle Crags at 6500 feet. The lower slopes are forested and the higher ones are a bit cooler and more open to the occasional breeze.
But it was hot and I had to stop and take numerous cool down breaks to avoid heat exhaustion.
The wind picked up a bit but it was from the south and brought smoke from the fires in the Sierra.
I began to fear that this hike would be a replay of my 2018 hike from Tahoe northward in which I never saw Mt Shasta despite hiking nearly a hundred miles through its realm.
So I was cheered when I did finally realize my goal of seeing Mt Shasta even if it was only a ghostly snowless apparition looming in the smoke.
My lunch break was at Gully Spring which features a large stand of pitcher plants. I believe these carnivorous plants are endemic to these mountains, but I can’t remember their name. Bumblebees, black with a single yellow transverse stripe, kept up a constant search for flowers (there are none in this drought year), leading them to my gaiters which have a colorful swirly pattern that apparently registers as a flower in their visual systems.
The climb eventually leveled out and the temps dropped to the low 80s, reducing the brutality of the hike by several notches.
Encountered maybe a dozen hikers today. I stopped at mile 1521 to camp, figuring 16 miles is plenty for my second day out. Everyone else seems headed for the next water source 5 miles on but I am satisfied to remain here – I am on the PCT, I’ve done my first big climb, all is good.
