NO. 15 OF 26 · NORTHERN CALIFORNIA · MILES 1421 TO 1503 · ELEVATION 2,050 TO 6,100 FTPHOTO #1800 · DAY 84 · ROUTE: TRAIL LINE + STRAVA
DAY 83 · JUL 21, 2021 · CAMP ESTIMATED
“PCT day 83: big push to Mt Shasta”
28.7 mi3,533 ft9:492.9 mph
trail mi 1421 · 2,937 ft2,737 to 6,094 ft
DAY 84 · JUL 22, 2021 · CAMP ESTIMATED
“PCT day 84: Shasta - Trinity”
25.7 mi4,390 ft8:552.9 mph
trail mi 1457 · 5,448 ft2,308 to 5,594 ft
DAY 85 · JUL 23, 2021 · CAMP ESTIMATED
“PCT day 85: Nero into Shasta”
5.8 mi79 ft2:002.9 mph
trail mi 1489 · 3,714 ft3,714 to 4,632 ft
DAY 86 · JUL 24, 2021
“PCT day 86: Nero out of Shasta”
5.8 mi1,181 ft2:102.7 mph
trail mi 1496 · 4,205 ft2,067 to 4,205 ft
66 miles tracked·4 days, July 2021·day 83 28.7 miles·two neros in Mount ShastaNorthern California, leg 15 of 26
Burney to Mount Shasta
A 28.7-mile day out of Burney with Mount Shasta coming up over the trees, mile 1500 in sticks, then a swollen foot and two neros at the KOA in Mount Shasta.
By Jeffrey “Atlas” Combs · walked Jul 21–24, 2021 · published · updated
Day 83 was 28.7 miles, and I titled it “big push to Mt Shasta.” By around noon Mount Shasta was showing above the forest. At a tentsite at mile 1456.9 I left a FarOut comment: “Rattlesnake confirmed but .1 before campsite heading NOBO.”
A big hiker bubble was coming up behind me out of Burney, a social, almost party-hiker group. I wasn’t into that.
Day 84 was 25.7 more through the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, past the Centipede Gulch trailhead and the McCloud River. We camped on a ridge looking toward Castle Crags, and I took a lot of sunset photos from up there.
Quoted lines are from my 2021 logs, verbatim.
Day 85 started with an orange sunrise through the smoke. Mile 1500 was laid out in sticks on the trail, and there’s a photo of it between two pairs of trail runners. Strava has the day at 5.8 miles, past the Castle Crags State Park sign to I-5, and I took a bus into Mount Shasta from there.
I’d been to Shasta only a few months before. This time I had to stop because my foot was super swollen, and I was a little worried about it. We stayed at the KOA and saw a few hikers we knew. I had two short walking days, 5.8 miles each, with time in town between them. My ankle had been rubbing in my Speedgoats, so I tightened the laces, and the top of my foot started hurting. Injury by shoelace, the lamest thing ever. It looked better the next morning.
The ride back out was a hitch. A young hippie dude in a van picked us up and took us back to trail. That afternoon I walked into the Castle Crags Wilderness, with the granite spires showing through the smoke.
Start // past Burney Falls, day 83
Finish // I-5 at Castella, mile 1503
Camps // a ridge facing Castle Crags, then the Mount Shasta KOA
Ride // a bus into Mount Shasta, a van back to the trail
The food, then and now
The food for this stretch came out of the Burney resupply on day 81, and I’m not sure what I bought there. In Mount Shasta there were grocery stores and shops with goodies, and some smaller health food stores. I can’t tell you which ones I used or what went into the resupply.
If you’re going now, hikers in July 2026 found Berryvale Natural Foods in Mount Shasta selling bulk black bean and green pea flakes, vegan jerky and bars. Hari Om Shri Ram’s menu marks several curries vegan. Fifth Season carried vegan Good To-Go meals in a June 2023 hiker report; ask what is in stock. Ammirati’s Market in Castella is limited but holds packages, and Dollar General is the main shop in Dunsmuir. Dunsmuir Brewery Works still made a house veggie burger in July 2026, so ask whether it’s vegan, and the patty at Yaks has egg and dairy. Back at the start, hikers found lots of frozen vegan food, Beyond patties included, at Burney’s Grocery Outlet in 2025, and Burney Mountain Guest Ranch cooked vegan with advance notice in August 2026. The chef is off Mondays and Tuesdays, so plan a vegan meal for another day. The park store at Burney Falls is a pricey top-off with veggie burgers at the deli, and it cut its hours in September 2026.
Artwork designed from my own trail photos, using AI-assisted image generation and enlargement. Instant downloads from my Etsy shop; nothing ships.
