7/23: Shasta.

GUYS!!!

I actually don't even know where to start with this post. 

Shasta is the best? I guess that's a good place to start? Anyway. 

Mattie and I left Lee Vining Thursday morning and started driving north, and it was warm. We spaced out along the way and took it easy in some amazing meadows along Highways 44 and 89, and rolled into Mount Shasta City around 4:30 with a little time for a nap on the Forest Service lawn while we waited for Ryan to get off work.

Then everything awesome started happening really quickly. 

FIRST, right after he got home we went swimming in Castle Lake (I think? I think that's what it's called...). The water was perfect and totally clear, it was warm out, there were PBRs involved. A short hike took us up to Heart Lake and an unreal view of Shasta as the sun went down. On the drive home we were stopped by a black bear. We made tacos for dinner.

THEN Friday happened, and it was one of the coolest days ever. Ryan led me up five super fun (and totally amazing, beautiful, mellow, hot, sunny, breathtaking) pitches on Cosmic Wall in Castle Crags and I almost lost my mind. 

RYAN!!! Hey, how about you do all the work? Cool. 

The super-effing-rad summit pitch of Cosmic Wall.
Photo: Ryan the Wonderhuman

View down to Castle Dome from somewhere on Cosmic Wall. 

There's no chance I can actually describe how incredible that climb was for me, but it was one of the coolest things ever in my life. So if you're ever near Shasta, buy Grover's sweet new guidebook and find your way through the manzanita to Cosmic Wall. 

We went for a swim in a perfect little creek at sunset, and that night we ate at the Black Bear Diner and had delicious food and chocolate malts (I imagine that leftover chocolate malts are delicious...mine suspiciously disappeared, so I wouldn't know...). I slept pretty hard Friday night. 

SATURDAYYYY! We had a mellow morning. Then we got sandwiches, took some beers and snacks, and hiked into another little lake. We got good and sunburned, and swam and spaced out and picnicked for the entire afternoon. Heaven. 

And still the day somehow got better. We showed up late to a backyard music festival/drinkfest (Benjapalooza. I don't know how to spell that. But it was awesome.) at an amazing home with bands and chickens and vodka and really sweet, wonderful people. That night the moon was bright and we drove up and slept on the mountainside. We caught part of the sunrise bending around Shasta the next morning.

Early morning man and mountain. 

Then I took a nap because I was totally exhausted from all the excitement of the weekend.

Daytime on SUNDAY! 

Sunday was another water day. We took out Ryan's inflatable kayak and zig-zagged our way terribly across the lake to a little beach on the far side. I'm the world's worst paddler. More snacks. Beers. Swimming in water so clean and perfect that you can see the bottom far beneath you as you swim out to the dock in the middle of the lake. Climbing vertically floating logs that were bobbing in deep water (I didn't do that, but Ryan nailed it...then belly-flopped off the top). My face hurts from smiling just thinking about all of it. 

Being in Shasta is hard work.
Ryan deflating the kayak after a long day in the water.

That night we went to the Billy Goat and had a few beers, then to a little pizza dinner at the adorable A-frame cabin home of Ryan's friends. There are a lot of good people up there, and I can see how it'd be easy to get sucked in. The people might contribute to the vortex as much as the mountain itself.

We left Monday morning after an early goodbye to the best host ever. Thank you, Ryan. Seriously. That was one of the most fun, relaxing, amazing weekends we've ever had, and we miss you already! Come back and play in the mountains - we'll have an IPA and some lobster taquitos waiting for you.

And just as fast, we were back on the road driving south.

We stopped for a break at the gorgeous Burney Falls, and I took a good long nap and read. Then we ate a road trip lunch and got back on the 89 South.

Like villains. Burney Falls tables. 

Burney Falls on a Monday morning. 

 We passed through Lassen and took a few breaks. It was beautiful, mellow, and pretty lonely. Mattie isn't really allowed to do much in the National Parks, so we continued through after some time in the old snow.

Getting all geothermal 'n' shit. 

M-DAWG wanted to charge it. Dirty snow, dog, Lassen Peak.

We drove down through a steep canyon cut by the Feather River, saw a car go over the edge and felt a lot of love for all of my family and friends (I love you guys dearly, and I miss you all and you make me smile all the time even when we're out here alone for months and months), and stopped in sweet little Quincy for lunch at Pangaea. That place was the JAM.

Then, west. We took the Bucks Lake Road for quite a ways until we discovered that Bucks Lake isn't really the kind of place that would be a good home, then headed back up to Silver Lake. It was a hot drive, and all we wanted was to go dive in some cool clean water.

I JUST FEEL LIKE IF YOU CAN'T SWIM IN A LAKE, THERE SHOULD BE A SIGN RIGHT AT THE TURNOFF, NOT AFTER YOU'VE BEEN DRIVING UP A DIRT ROAD FOR 7 MILES THINKING ABOUT HOW AMAZING IT'S GONNA FEEL TO DIVE IN. So that was a total bummer, especially after four days of perfect hot water swimming around Shasta. But it was still beautiful up there and Mattie loved playing in the mud for a little.

This was fun to deal with. 

On the drive down, a huge, beautiful, healthy mountain lion ran right across the road in front of us and disappeared into the trees. I wish I knew more about spirit animals, because I feel like this week I would have gained quite a few spirit points.

We drove and drove through perfect valleys and meadows, small towns and weird resorts, over rivers and back to sagebrush country. Home was set up under a perfect sunset on the 89 north of Truckee, and today we're back in a town doing some work and going to get the computer fixed (hopefully) in Reno.

Rambling.

Over the next couple days, the crew from SLO is rolling into Tahoe for a long weekend reunion. Nell and Cole tonight. Hayley and Lindsey Thursday. Mary Friday. Mattie and I are fired up to see old, best friends.

Off to the big city. Better put on some clean clothes.

With love from Truckee,

Allison & Mattie Dog