The next steps to Mt. Shasta: Black Butte

Black Butte is a striking volcano that sits right next to Mt. Shasta, and I’ve always wanted to climb it, too… so I did! I was up visiting my parents and the 5-mile RT hike up this steep, rocky, old volcano seemed the perfect thing to do break in my boots more.

Yowza.

The trail is really challenging in its rocky parts, and there’s some boulder scrambling to get to the old lookout, which I’m really nervous about. There were several people at the summit, though, so I had lots of help… and finally got the cache that’s up there!

Black Butte-y

On the way back, my feet starting hurting again… once again real tear-jerking agony… and I knew my boots needed more than breaking in! OW. I went straight to the Fifth Season, where I’d purchased them specifically for the Shasta adventure (I need crampon compatible footwear) to see what, if anything, could be done.

The local boot expert, Jacques, kept them over night to stretch them out. I picked them up the next day, hoping that would do it… or it might require more fussing with to get my feet to tolerate them… and might I be able to do that in time?

I’ll keep you in suspense, but here are my photos from the hike. The views were stellar - all the way to the horizon!














Above: do you see the chipmunk?
Below: I found these at the Shell station in Yreka. They still work!

OK, I won’t keep you in suspense. I took the boots on another test hike of about 5 miles, and they seem to be fine now!

The Road to Mt. Shasta…. continues with Sawmill Mtn.

My next hike to train for Shasta was past Mt. Pinos and on to Sawmill Mountain. I camped overnight at McGill to acclimate a bit to the elevation so I could walk farther at least little more comfortably. This hike was 8 miles RT, and turned out to be quite a workout. The first leg to Mt. Pinos felt easy, but the next peak involved more elevation loss and gain than I had thought. I really had to descend about 400′, then back up 300′ in a couple of miles. The views up there are just as nice, though.

Sawmill Mountian (sic)

This is the last of the snow!

I noticed this odd plant, which appears to be fungal. The color is really brilliant, though:

I made it! I ran in to one other person today, just in time for him to take my picture.

Summit Log

After bagging this peak, I went on to find a cache further on and back down a hill. This meant my return trip was up, down, up and across! I was SO tired after that… and my feet were really hurting. (sigh) I’ll need to break in the boots more…

So, that last cache was also an Altoids tin in a rock outcropping! I despaired of finding it, but decided to get really determined, and did after some searching. I had forgotten to bring the spoiler photo! At least I was successful… whew!

Sheepish Grouse

The Road to Mt. Shasta… begins with Mt. Pinos

Last week, I began my training for climbing Mt. Shasta in mid-July. I’ll be ascending that singular mount with local guides, but really want to be physically prepared by hiking and sleeping at higher altitudes as much possible between now and then.

My first step was to summit Mt. Pinos, which is almost a drive-up, but still requires about a 3 mile RT walk up a road from the parking lot. The peak is at 8831 feet, and coming from sea level, that’s enough to make the walking rather strenuous, even with only a gentle 500 foot elevation gain!

I know I have my work cut out for me to prepare for Shasta!

Here are the caches for the day:
Once A Pond, Almost A Pond
Pinon Pines Pit Stop
Pine Mountain Wildlife
Per Ardua Ad Astra
Space Mountain
Mt. Pinos Cave Dweller
Mt. Pinos - 8831 ft
Peace Valley - B44
Peace Valley - 297
Peace Valley - 107
Peace Valley - Panorama
Peace Valley - 108
Peace Valley - Benchmark

Here are the photos for the day:

Above is the summit benchmark. These are a couple of the wonderful vistas from up there:

Here’s a sign about the trail ahead, but not taken today:

On the way back, I managed to get a photo of a local:

I continued my adventure here this week, so more on this area in an upcoming post!

The Road Home

After a lovely visit with the family, I headed back to L.A., staying with my friend in Sacramento again. I found the requisite handful of caches along I-5 from Yreka to Sacramento, then began the following day’s journey with a walk/hike along the nearby American River.

SBRA
Marbles
LC77’s Path
Bend in the River
The Next Bend in the River
Billy Pond Resurrected!

On my way south, I took a side trip to grab a cache that hadn’t been found for at least a week before I left, and I still ended up being FTF!
Newmans Historic Homeless Distric:Take 2

Among the handful of remaining caches along the way, I really had to put my thinking cap on to figure out how to retrieve this one:
Where Cachers Are Mean
I’m glad no one was around in the park to notice my repeated trips to the car for various tools!

A Hike and a Flash Mob

I took a lovely hike with f0t0m0m on Friday, in the hills near Whittier. We found these caches:
Rue Bourbon
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Heart Attack Hill Bypass
Shaken not Stirred
Dirt Track Date
Buddha’s Feast
WestwardHo’s Booty Cache find #15,700!
Godzilla vs Creosote
Hansel & Gretel This was my favorite of the day, as we had to follow a trail of small white stones to the gingerbread ammo can!
Pixie Stix
Marzipan Alligator Krewe
South Specific

Legless Muggle (NO rattles):

The Buddha greets us:

The weeds are THIS tall!

Purple thistle, golden sticky monkey flower, and - yikes! - a big bush of poison oak with berries:

On Saturday, I hosted one of 167 concurrent World Wide Flash Mob Events:
Worldwide Flash Mob with a view! (WWFM)
I’ll let the photos tell the tale…

The View:

The Mob:

There are many more photos on the event page.

My next report will be of Ottawa (Ontario), Charlottesville (VA), and Washington (DC).