September 7

I tried to sleep in this morning being that I only had 15 miles to go to get to town, but it was a warm night and the sun came up as it always seems to do and I knew in a few minutes I would be cooking in my sleeping bag. I got up, cooked breakfast and was hiking by 7:45 am toward Castella. It was a warm morning, but I had the shade of the giant crags that the Cast Crags National Park is known for shading me from the sun. It helped too that I was dropping elevation with every step into the cool creeks in the canyon below. The gnasty gnats were horrendous, worse than they were in Seiad Valley, and I even broke down and put on my head net to escape their awfulness. They go straight for one's ears and eyes... Terrible creatures. 

Louis informed me of a shortcut to the Chevron station and I took that. I came out near the park entrance and a friendly ranger stopped me to make sure I was ok. I assured her that I was and made my way to the store for lunch by noon. I had a bag of Skittles, Gatorade, and a breakfast burrito for lunch and took a nap after a cup of coffee in the shade. 

I arranged with friends to call to be picked up around 2:00, and by 2:30 had a ride back to Ben and Laura's for the night. I bought a quart of Tillamook caramel toffee crunch ice cream as a gift for staying the night. A gift that I too could enjoy of course :). Sounds like I get lunch tomorrow and a trip to Walmart as that was their plans anyway. I need a few items for the next stretch and that is the cheapest way to do it. It is much cheaper than these trail stores that know they are the only place around.