We had 4 hikers come out to hike the PCT from Picayune Point to Porcupine and Toad Lake. When we started up the road to the trailhead, we noticed we were following 4 other vehicles. I remembered that I had seen that the Siskiyou Wanderers were hiking to Porcupine Lake, but meeting at 9am. I figured we would be well behind them with our 8am leave time from Ashland. As we were getting ready, a couple of their dogs came up to greet us. I went over and introduced myself and told them we were from Ashland, OR and were part of the Ashland Hiking Group.
We started out hiking and could see Picayune Lake and the cabin off to our right. Shortly after that, we have an amazing view of Mount Shasta to our right. We could see many of the wildflowers that were surely blooming in the spring and summer. Only a few still had flowers.
As we continued on, we stopped at an area with Californica Darlingtonia aka Pitcher Plants. We could see them from very small to fully grown and many that were brown and dying off for the year. As we hiked along, I asked the group if they would like to go on to Toad Lake first and give the Wanderers and their 4 dogs time at Porcupine Lake. They agreed and we continued on to Toad Lake.
There wasn't a cloud in the sky and we were happy to find a nice shady spot to have our lunch.
After Lunch, we started back and we noticed some low smoke off in the distance. I later checked and could see that prescribed burns were being done in various places. We had a good view of the Castle Crags and could see all the way to Lassen Peak.
We made the turn to go up to Porcupine Lake and ran into the Wanderers as they were leaving. They had been looking for us since I told them we were having our lunch there. I told them we decided to go to Toad Lake first. After a short time at the lake, we headed out and back to our car. We had hiked 10.75 miles and gained 1,265 feet of elevation.