>It seems like a mighty long time
Saturday: Left early a.m. Ate at Cornerstone and had best breakfast in Sacramento. Really, I don’t know whom all those other breakfast places try to fool. Not me, that’s for sure. It goes like this – smashed potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms and a big helping of government cheese on top. No onions, no eggs thank you and wheat toast please. Hit the road up I-5 and drove four hours. Scanned local stations on the radio because we forgot new CDs. The oldies stations up north are too ‘50s for me. I’m so over “Duke of Earl”. Sight saw out of passenger window. We saw Castle Crags, Shasta Lake, and Mount Shasta. Went through Dunsmuir and saw the house that Leon grew up in. Drove up the road on Mount Shasta. It was too foggy to see the crest of the mountain, so we drove back down and hiked around Panther Meadows a while. Stuck our hands in some icy streams then took off to town for some briquettes and batteries. Headed towards camp, bought firewood from a crazy trailer guy that smelled like cinnamon. Got to Castle Lake and we were not pleased with the fact that we could not have campfires there or bbq. Went over to Lake Siskyou and the lady there told us that they only had crap left for campsites. Lame! We went back to Castle Lake and decided to camp there anyway. We set up and hiked around the lake. The back end of the lake was against a huge craggy granite mountain. The lake was formed when a glacier slid down the side of the mountain during the Pleistocene era and came to rest at the foot. As a result, the deepest part of the lake is against the mountain and its bed consists mostly of granite with hardly any nitrogen or phosphorous, making it almost intolerable to algae and other plant life. So, the water was so clear that you could see all the rocks on the bottom, even the rocks in the deep parts! After the small hike, we ate a little, napped then went on another hike in the evening. We hiked up so far that we found deer tracks and an old forest service road that had long since been out of use. Had bbq that night, looked at the stars and went to bed with an amazing headache.
Sunday: Woke up early and had granola. Waited for sun to come over the hill and then went on grueling hike at 9:30. We hiked uphill to Little Castle Lake. It was much like a pond than a lake, but gorgeous and Bob Ross-like nonetheless. That only took about 30 minutes, so we decided to keep going to the summit. We went uphill, then downhill, uphill, then downhill. We went on like this for another hour and a half. Found more deer tracks, tons of ants, locusts, bees, wasps, butterflies, lizards, a creepy clearing in the forest, and many Sound of Music type hills. We half expected to see Julie Andrews spinning on the mountainsides. We finally made it to the summit and had sandwiches. Sitting up top there we felt like the only two people in the world, then this plane came by and ruined our silence. From the top, we could see the back of Castle Crags, the crest of Mount Shasta, the hills and mountains to the east and the costal mountains to the west. We caught our breath and started back. We soon found that our hike back was mostly uphill. Stopped several times to rest. We got sunburned and stinky. Jumped in the lake to cool down and get clean. Swam a little from rock to rock and stood on sunken logs. Got scared because my legs were cramping up after the hike and got out. Went into town, got wine, cheese and crackers. Drove around the town, hung out in the park, kissed on bridges, saw the headwaters of the Sacramento River jutting out of the side of a hill, and saw the hospital that Leon was born in. Drove up to the fish hatchery and fed rainbow trout. Went back to camp. Sat by the lake, drank a bottle of five dollar wine, filled up on crackers, cheese and carrots. Went back to tent and passed out all night. Woke up at midnight to see the moon shine almost as bright as the sun.
Monday: Woke up early, packed up and went into town. Got gas and drove to Dunsmuir to see Mossbrae Falls. To get there we walked on a narrow path beside some train tracks for about 20 – 30 minutes. Leon put some pennies down on the tracks to get squished. The falls were gorgeous! They looked like they should be on a tropical island. The water fell over the side of a small moss covered cliff and into a tiny bend of the Sacramento river. Hiked back and met up with a train right where we left the pennies, we dove onto the side of the hill below the tracks and watched the coins get squished. Train passed, got the pennies and hiked back to the car. Drove through the city park and headed back on I-5. Found a Taco Bell in Redding. Rejoiced over soap in the bathrooms and ate bad food. Headed back home. It was hot when we got there. Cats were mellow and didn’t try to run out when we got back. Heather later told us that she spent at least an hour a day petting them when she was cat sitting for us. No wonder! Drank some beers and then went shopping for new running shoes. Got the Spoon watch that I’ve always wanted. Marked down from $295.00 to $49.97. Ate good pizza, visited Mair and borrowed movies from her. Fell asleep on the couch watching blade runner.
Dressy Bessy show tomorrow. I’m on the radio tonight 7-9pm.
Later.