Heart Lake
MVP
My New Balance Trail Running Shoes—I had great grip on the way up (so much so that the trekking poles were unnecessary) and on the way down, they worked in conjunction with the trekking poles to help me fly down the trail without slipping.
Hike Review:
The trail is surprisingly short given how beautiful the view is at the top.
The first half of the trail is thoroughly wooded, and the second half is on an exposed alpine landscape.
I hiked this in the morning and there weren’t too many people on the trail, especially given that this was a holiday weekend.
I was hiking without my headphones, so the trail felt much longer than it should have.
What I Learned:
You can backpack at heart lake! Or at least I saw 3 tents near the lake, with 7 backpackers coming down when I was going up. I’m adding backpacking here to my bucket list.
The parking lot was decently full, but there was still overflow parking available when I left around 11am.
You can kayak at Castle Lake. I didn’t allot time for it, but next time, I will. The water is so tranquil and clear.
“Have a good rest of the day!” Seems to be the thing that local folks say on the trail, as I heard it a lot on this trail and at Castle Crags. I think I’m going to steal it. :)
I had put my Peak Design clip on my ultralight backpack, but even with the spacer that came with it, I found that the screw would poke into my shoulder. Not using the clip with this backpack in the future.
What Happened?
2.7 miles, 1 hrs 29 mins, 628 ft of ascent
When I got to the trailhead around 8:30am, it was already 62 degrees according to my car. With what I learned from the Castle Crags hike, I just wore my running shorts and t-shirt, knowing that while it was a little chilly, I’d be just fine once I started the hike.
The parking lot is right next to the lake, so before I could really get started, I had to stop and take some pictures of the gorgeous lake in front of me. Castle Lake is a small lake with super clear waters. It reminded me a lot of Eagle Lake at Lake Tahoe, actually.
I then started hiking and I found the first half to be just really nice. A bit dusty, but hiking through a nicely shaded forest is always really nice and quiet. Once I got to the second half of the trail, I emerged from the forest to a proper alpine landscape with rocks, bushes, and some residual snow. My legs weren’t the freshest, but they weren’t tired either. I was definitely bored through, due to the lack of audio entertainment (and I will never be one of those people that play music out loud on the trail).
After feeling like I had hiked 2 miles, I got to the lake with only 1.3 miles hiked. Heart lake itself isn’t too much to look at, but catching the reflection of Mount Shasta off it’s waters was jaw-dropping. After some pictures, I walked to the outlet side of the lake where I then enjoyed the views of Castle Lake and Mount Shasta together. Off in the distance, I could also make out Black Butte (which I will hike one of these days) and Mount McLoughlin (I think).
I then quickly hiked down to my car. I had a lot of things planned out for this day and the faster I could walk, the more I could enjoy.