On Wednesday we had 4 people come out to hike from Castle Lake to the unmaintained Castle View Trail, then the PCT south to an area for tents. From there, we head up the unmaintained Climbers Bushwhack trail to the Castle Arch. From there we return the way we came until getting back to the Castle View trail and turn left and head up to Heart Lake.

We started out at 9:12am with a temperature of 46°. Even though it was chilly, it didn't take long to warm up because the trail had a lot of elevation gain as we made our way alongside Castle Lake. The views were amazing. We could see Black Butte and Mount Shasta with a fresh light coating of snow.

When we turned on to the Castle View trail, we were in the sun so we took off our extra layers. When we arrived at the top of the hill, we had fabulous views of the backside of the Castle Crags. Since the angle of the sun was in our faces, we decided that pictures on the way back would be a better idea. From there, we went down a faint trail until we came to the PCT. From there, we hiked south until we reached a camping area. We had a snack break then split apart from Scott. We made sure our walkie talkies were on so we could communicate with him.

From the camping area, we made our way uphill using a faint trail. We worked our way around manzanita and rocks. Eventually, we were right up below the Castle Crags. This was the first time for both Nanci and Allison and I asked them to bear with me as we made our way towards with arch. There was some downfall and cairns to work around. It was difficult but I kept saying, “We can do hard things” Allison saw the arch first and headed up the hill. I remembered that there is an easier approach if you go beyond the arch then turn right to go back up. Once we got to the arch, it had become windy and there were many more clouds in the sky. I had both of the ladies look through the arch and see the PCT where Sabin's Point is. We put on our warm coats and had our lunch.

We started our way back down and communicated with Scott that we were on our way back. It took an hour to go from the arch back to the tent camping area. We joined Scott and he told us he had gone both farther south and north along the PCT. While he waited for us, he had a squirrel try to tell him a story and try to get him to move away from his tree. Or so we guessed that was what it was chattering about.

We headed back north on the PCT and back up the Castle View Trail. There were various ways to get back up, so I kept checking my gps track to make sure we were on target. We connected back to Castle Lake/Heart Lake trail and went left up to Castle Lake. Nanci and I walked around Castle Lake while Scott and Allison stayed at the shore. We then headed back down to our cars and arrived around 3:30pm. We had hiked about 6.15 miles and gained approximately 2200 feet elevation.