September 17, 2016

Bushcamp (mile 1180.4) to Hwy 49 (mile 1195.4)

Miles: 15

Our total miles: 2552.7

We woke up at 5:30 while it was still dark. Lately, Andy has been really good at rallying. 

Once Laurie woke him up he deflated his sleeping pad and started packing. Laurie, on the other hand, stayed in her sleeping bag as long as possible. 

We started walking at 6:30. It was a warm, still morning. We continued along the ridge, walking toward the full moon. The sun rose behind us and we caught glimpses of gold light on mountains through the trees.

We dropped down, past old logging roads. At each creek crossing the temperature seemed to drop at least 10 degrees. We walked on, accompanied by the hum of bees all around.

Just before noon we reached the bridge at Haypress Creek. We took a sharp left before the bridge and walked to West Plum Road and eventually through the campground, residential community of Haypress and along Highway 49 to Sierra City.

Sierra City is a small town of 225 people. The General Store in town has the reputation of having the best burgers and milkshakes along the entire trail.

Laurie woke up excited for a milkshake. Perhaps that was the only thing, other than the need to pee, that got her out of her sleeping bag this morning.

We got to the general store at 12:30 and were greatly disappointed to see a closed sign taped on the deli counter.

No burgers. No milkshakes.

There was an event in town and the store’s employees were working the event.

“It’s okay, I can deal with the disappointment.” Laurie said to Andy. “I can make a root beer float.”

As we wandered around the store looking at ice cream options we noticed a pile of resupply boxes at the back of the store. 

Laurie asked the owner where we could find our resupply boxes and he motioned to the pile we had seen moments before.

We returned and sorted through many mangled boxes but didn’t see any with smiley faces on them (Andy placed smiley face stickers on all of our boxes to make them easier to locate). Is it possible they weren’t there?

We had been so fortunate thus far. Every box had arrived in good shape and with no hassle. It felt inevitable to Laurie that at least two of the 64 boxes that we shipped would get misplaced. 

We continued to search for our boxes, hoping we missed them. Behind and at the bottom of one pile was a box from Laurie’s friend. Thank you Carey! 

But still no sign of our resupply boxes. Laurie sat down, tore open the box from her friend and drowned her growing disappointment and hunger with lychee gummies and ginger candies.

We got in touch with Andy’s dad who looked up the USPS tracking numbers. One box was in Reno. The other one was apparently sitting at the Post Office next door. But the Post Office was closed. 

Why didn’t they deliver our package next door to the store like they were supposed to?

We were frustrated, hungry and disappointed. We looked around at the shelves and realized that unless we wanted to live on ramen, Idahoans and Knorr sides we couldn’t resupply here. 

We sat at the dinner table randomly located at the end of the store near all the wine and came up with a plan.

Our friends Jeff and Chris were coming to meet us for the night and we asked them to make a grocery run for us. 

We sent a shopping list and spent the next 2 hours charging our electronics and working on blog posts while sitting on the floor in the air conditioned store. 

It was really hot out! 

Andy spoke with the owner of the general store who said that although they are located next door to the Post Office, boxes sometimes get lost. 

He offered to go over on Monday and return the one box to the sender. The one in Reno we would have to call about. 

Andy thanked him.

Laurie asked (half joking) if we could run the deli for them. He said that if no one had arrived by 3, he would cook for us.

Around 2pm Laurie smelled fried goodness. They were not quite ready for business but they graciously took our order.

Unfortunately they had only pineapple in the soft serve machine (a request for the party). Pineapple milkshake would not be our first choice but we had heard so many wonderful things about these milkshakes we had to try it.

When we finally got our food 45 minutes later we were so hungry it was hard to savor it. 

Sadly, neither the milkshake nor the burgers were as good as advertised. The cheese was burned to a crisp on the edges and the fries were very bland.

Perhaps this was because they weren’t fully operational today but the food at the general store was not “the best on trail.”

At least for us.

It seems that the larger the expectation the greater the risk of disappointment. 

Nonetheless, we were very grateful that they made an exception for us, and cooked for us. Many hikers that were there since that morning weren’t as fortunate.

We went outside for better wifi in attempt to upload some posts. The heat felt oppressive. Maybe it was just the contrast from sitting in air conditioning.

Jeff and Chris pulled up around 4:30. We drove 45 minutes down a twisty road to a beautiful valley. Located in this gorgeous valley amongst the cows and farms was Sierra Hot Springs.

We shared an idealic evening together – soaking in the hot springs, eating scrumptious food, talking and relaxing. 

Jeff has been reading our blog and knew how much we love salad, so he brought 3 kinds of salad and a pie!!

Thank you Jeff and Chris for turning our day around. Spending time together helped wash away our frustrations and disappointments.

We left our quaint dinner area near the fountain and made our way to our tents as the moon began to rise. 

We will sleep well tonight.

Tonight we are grateful for warm spring water to ease our aches and pains and visits from good friends. 

September 16, 2016

Peter Grub Hut (mile 1160.8) to bushcamp (mile 1180.4)

Miles: 19.6

Our total miles: 2537.7

The night was still and we all slept well under the bright light of the moon. Mitra mentioned that she kept thinking there was a light on since the moon was so bright.

We woke up without an alarm and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast. Andy boiled water for hot chocolate and oatmeal.

Around 10am we parted ways with Mitra. 

It was really nice spending time with her. We are so grateful for the support of our friends through town fund donations, care packages, texts and visits. 

It has been really fun having friends join us for small sections around Tahoe. Not only do we get to slow down and soak in the sights, but it feels like a complete experience to share the simple joys of staring at the stars or swimming in cold lakes with friends.

We hiked for 2 hours on small ups and downs. We were both feeling sluggish and not particularly motivated.

Around noon we stopped for a short lunch break. At times we have tuna for lunch and this requires an actual break compared to just eating bars or beef jerky-like products.

We sat on a rock in the shade, and shortly after a SOBO named Happy Feet stopped to chat. Laurie started pulling things out of her Ursack to give him – including a carrot, crackers, chocolate and ginger candy. 

We have been spoiled lately with fresh fruits and veggies from friends (and a grocery store) and enjoy sharing our loot with other hikers.

We ended up chatting with Happy Feet for over an hour! By the time we were ready to walk again, Brendan, another SOBO and friend of Laurie’s friend Kelly, joined us. 

We last saw Brendan north of Trout Lake in Washington. It was great to see him again.

Fifteen minutes later we unglued ourselves from our cool rock and wandered back onto the hot afternoon trail. 

We hiked on, up and down the gentle hills until the evening. 

We had intended to hike to an old logging road but found a nice camp spot on top of a hill. The air was warm and we watched the sun set from our sits pads, leaning against our backpacks.  

Rather than crawling in the tent, Laurie stayed outside and we ate dinner taking in the last of the orange and pink sky. We watched as the stars came out and slowly the moon rose, exposing shadows of our tent, ourselves and our surroundings.

We maintain that if it is important to you, and you look hard enough, you’ll find a beautiful place to camp. For us, thru hiking isn’t just about hiking all day. 

We want to enjoy where we camp too. We want to catch as many sunsets and sunrises as possible. And if that means stopping a mile early, we will do that. 

Around 8:30pm we finally made our way into our tent. We cleaned up (boy were we filthy today!) pumped up our Thermarests and quickly got into our sleeping bags.

If feels good to be here. It’s nights like these that we are going to miss most.

But tonight we get to enjoy exactly where we are. The silence, the bright full moon, and each other’s company – free of artificial lights, Internet and other distractions. 

Tonight we are grateful for moments like these and flat spots on ridges.

September 15, 2016

Donner Summit (mile 1153.4) to Peter Grubb Hut (mile 1160.8)

Miles: 7.4

Our total miles: 2518.1

We woke up at 7 am. It felt so good to sleep in a bed. Laurie misses cotton sheets. Small comforts like these make it easier to think about returning to “real life.”

We finished our town chores while eating a delicious hiker breakfast – microwave nachos with guacamole. In the past 14 hours we have eaten a rotisserie chicken, 2/3 a large block of sharp Tillamook cheese, 16 corn tortillas, a large container of salad greens, 1.5 bags of chips, 1 apple, 3 plums and a container of guacamole. 

Yum!

Our friend Mitra met us at our hotel around 10:15am with our resupply package. We organized our food, including goodies from a care package from another friend. 

We drove up to Donner Summit, parked the car and spent 20 minutes attempting to confirm that it was okay to leave a car overnight. 

Most people were visiting or said they thought it would be okay – but we wanted confirmation. Eventually some locals passed by and confirmed that parking on the dirt would be fine.

By noon we were walking. We skirted around a popular rock climbing area and hiked around granite rocks with a beautiful view of Donner Lake.

The trail included many ups and downs between Highway 40 and I-80. Mitra was a great sport as we climbed and descended the granite steps, all while chatting.

We walked under 2 tunnels, one for each direction of traffic, to cross over I-80. We enjoyed an extended and extavagent lunch of hummus, bell peppers, carrots, plantain chips, potato chips, turkey summer sausage and fruit all while sitting near the I-80 rest area.

From here we continued on toward the Peter Grubb Hut. The trail was a constant but gentle uphill. Again we distracted ourselves with conversation and the miles flew by.

We got to Castle Pass around 4:30 and dropped 200 feet down to Round Valley and the hut.

Andy chatted with a SOBO named The Greek while Mitra and Laurie explored the cabin.

Two long wooden tables filled the first room with a wood burning stove, laundry line and many pots and pans. There was a nice loft for sleeping and another insulated room as overflow.

Outside was a ladder to allow for winter access. We hope to come back here sometime in the winter.

We walked about a tenth of a mile west of the hut and found 2 spots close to one another. We set up our tents and ate dinner sitting on some granite. Mitra brought a kale salad which we happily devoured. 

Around 7:15 Laurie noticed a bright light on the hill. We all stared at it and watched it grow bigger and brighter. 

Initially we thought it was a tent with LED lights but then it became clear it was the moon. We watched the moon rise as the colors to the west faded. 

It was a surprisingly warm night and we all slept without the fly. Laurie slept in Mitra’s tent and they chatted for a while before falling asleep.

This is the first night we sleep apart. 

Tonight we are grateful for care packages and in person visits from friends.