We were concerned with the smoke hindering our hike as it was thicker in some areas than others as 5 hikers drove down I-5 to hike the PCT south from Gumboot Saddle. As luck would have it, our area was clear and beautiful.

We began our hike along the PCT for about 2.3 miles through a nice forest with views of Mount Shasta and many of the lakes in the area. We turned onto an old road and followed it around Lake Helen deciding to visit the shores on the return hike. We came to a point where the trail was no longer clear as the Huckleberry Oak and Manzanita shrubs had overgrown our path. We could see our destination and decided to go part way and then make our decision to have lunch or push on to Boulder Peak.

After a short time, we realized it was closer than we thought. We unanimously decided that we would press on to Boulder Peak. We each picked a route up the rocks that we felt comfortable with and assisted each other by telling if rocks were not sturdy or if walking in the shrubs was a better way to go.

Once we were at the top, everyone was glad we chose to push on. The views were stunning with Echo Lake below us, and all of the surrounding mountains so we took a long leisurely lunch.

From the top, we were able to see an easier way back down so our descent was much faster than the climb up. Once again, we took different paths through what looked like a trail and overgrown shrubs. Once we got back to an established trail our pace picked up. We came back to Lake Helen and walked down to the shore. After a brief stop, we headed along a trail and picked up the old road where we had walked in the morning.

We gave some time to Jerry to look for his trekking pole he had set down while photographing the scenery. Unfortunately he was unable to find it. We made it back to our cars and headed home after a warm day of hiking in temperatures in the mid 80s