Aug 12th - Shasta Comes out of the Smoke

Wow, spent the whole day on ridges and side traverses of mountains:  first with views of the Castle Crags, then multicolored mountains, and then, as I crested around a rock outcropping, the fantastic Shasta without smoke.  Hiked most of the afternoon with views of Mt. Shasta and the Cascades.  A great day for views and the wind came up in the afternoon to tame the sun.  Found empty trail magic in the heat of the long 13 mile section but there was a great ice cold spring shortly after.  Met Red Rover thru-hiker today.