As I may have mentioned before, one of the perks of being LAST IN LINE as far as the northbound 2008 PCT thru-hikers goes is that everyone has passed up the berries while they were still ripening. Yak and I get to invade entire fields of them with reckless abandon. We stuffed ourselves SILLY on berries as we descended into Castella and then filled a Nalgene bottle with the rest, sticking it into a freezer at first opportunity so that later we could put them over cereal and cold milk. For a thru-hiker, the mere mention of cold milk makes our ears perk up.


The making of a dream.


Black Butte, a satellite volcano near Mt. Shasta. This is Interstate 5 as we crossed from Mt. Shasta City to try and hitch back to Castella.


The clerk at Ammirati's Market in Castella was the most adorable girl ever. She took a while to warm to us but eventually was dancing and laughing and making us a gift of one of her beautiful sketches. Thank you, Ammirati's girl! (name withheld for privacy)


The PCT hiker site in Castle Crags State Park.