Just did a quick backpack trip from the Trinity Divide through Castle Crags Wilderness 10/20-10/22. We started at Gumboot Lake TH and finished at Castle Crags SP. The elevation was around 6500' for the first 10 miles and the forest is dominated by pines,fir, and oak. We had incredible views from our 1st campsite looking down on Castle Crags with Mt Shasta dominating the landscape to the east. The next 6-7 miles we descended over 3000' and the fall colors started to emerge with the presence of bigleaf maples,dogwoods, alders, willows, and redbuds.The fall colors continued as we hiked the final 8 miles down to Castle Crags SP. Over 3 days we met a few long distance hikers headed to Ashland and Columbia Gorge hoping to beat the weather and 2 others headed to Burney Falls to complete their PCT through hikes. Amazingly we were the only ones at our 2 overnight campsites. We only saw one day hiker the entire time, even as we entered the state park with it's over half a dozen spendid hiking trails. There were several cars at the scenic overlook where people had to walk 1/4 mile for views of the Crags and Mt Shasta. Overall a very satisfying fall trip!!
