On Monday, we had our first "escape the heat" day of the hiking season as we left Ashland's mini heatwave for a sunny day in the low 70s at Heart Lake (6,035').

We left Rite Aid at 8 AM and pulled into the Castle Lake parking lot at 9:30. Castle Lake (5,435') was as smooth as glass, with the sound of water pouring down the cliff from Heart Lake 600' above us.

The trail to Heart Lake starts just south of Castle Lake parking and almost immediately has a challenging water crossing. All nine of us made it across balancing on various rocks. The trail then starts rising up as we hike alongside Castle Lake to the west.

Both lakes are in glacier-carved-out cirque bowls with late-season snow clinging to the sides.

The Heart trail goes up through shady forest before breaking out into the sunshine on the granite hillside leading up to the heart-shaped lake.

Along the way, we viewed spring flowers in the forest and out on the rocks, forming natural rock gardens. Some songbirds sang from the treetops.

We encountered large patches of snow on and near the trail as we gained elevation. The warm sun was rapidly melting the snow sending water pouring down the trail. The trail rises above the lake's bowl to perhaps 6,200' and on that approach we were hiking through and around the snow. There was also snow going down the shaded east side of the bowl, but once we reached lake level there were no more snow issues.

A creek formed from the overflow made what appeared to be a natural "infinity pool" as the water disappeared over the cliff. We crossed that creek on stepping stones.

The water was cold from all the snow melt, so our group decided not to take a dip. Instead, we moved west from the lake and found a nice lunch spot near a pond.

The views from 6,000+ feet were excellent on this clear day as we saw massive snow-white Mt. Shasta, Commitment Peak just off the trail to the north. Castle Lake below us, Black Butte west of Shasta, and Mt McLoughlin and Pilot Rock on the northern horizon.

You can climb the west side of the bowl, which we did when scouting three years ago, for an even higher viewpoint.

After lunch and our group shot with Shasta, we casually headed back down completing 4.5 miles RT with an elevation gain of 600+ feet.

We stopped at Yak's in Shasta City for refreshments and another view of Mt Shasta.

It was a glorious day!
Rich