This 98-mile stretch of the trail took me through the Castle Crags Wilderness. The scenery was amazing, and I don't believe my pictures do it justice.

This also begins the section where most of the PCT hikers skipped up to to get around the Park fire. So whereas the previous section I saw a total of two hikers, my first night up from I-5 there was about 25 - 30 of us all camped on the same ridge where we could watch the sunset and sunrise on Mount Shasta and the Castle Crags.

This section also puts me up against the Shelly Fire trail closure, so yesterday I started the road walk that will take me around the closure. I got rained on a little, but some very nice people also offered me a ride when I was still five miles from Etna. I was 32 miles for the day, so even though I'll need to hitch a ride back to that spot, I happily accepted.

When I got to Etna, all of the available lodging was already filled, so I ended up camping in the city park. I'm surrounded by what I estimate to be about 50 other PCT hikers, so this definitely is a different vibe than what I was experiencing just a few days ago.

Looking forward to attending church in Etna today.