Day 75: CS1695 to CS1733 (37.3 miles - 1733.1)

July 21, 2016 - It got pretty cold again last night, tough to get out of the sleeping bag this morning.

I knew I would have a somewhat easy day of hiking as the profile map showed it was flat and downhill to Ashland. It started off on some rocky trail which slowly turned into flat compact dirt.

As I was walking I noticed markers on trees then I remembered running into some trail runners back in Castle Crag telling me about an upcoming trail race on the PCT in the Ashland area also that they would have trail magic on trial. As I was heading up a peak near Mt Ashland I came across some chairs and cooler full of pop. They weren’t very cold but I’ll still take it, Shasta Cola with a view of Mt Shasta.

After the trial magic it was basically a 10 mile hike downhill to Ashland. I got to the highway that would take me to town and eat lunch hoping someone driving by might offer me a cold drink or food but no luck.

After lunch I had a nice little uphill hiking away from town in the heat of the day so it wasn’t much fun.

Came across a cool looking rock formation, Pilot Rock. Would have been nice to go climb it but no time as I would be picked up from the trail tomorrow so I needed to stay on schedule.

After passing Pilot Rock it was basically flat and easy hiking to Hobart Bluff trail junction which is where I planned to camp in hopes there would be a flat spot seeing how not many camping opportunities. I got there and there was nothing so I checked my guide book and showed possible camping at the road crossing 3.5 miles down trail. I had already put in 34 miles and felt good so I just decided to go for it.

I got to the road and the camping spot was a gravel parking lot so I looked around and found a somewhat flat spot just down trail. Not the best spot but was getting dark and was done hiking for the day so it will have to do.

Pilot Rock side trail