Written 7/31/14
Posted 8/4/14
We've been back in the swing of hiking long miles as we're averaging 20 miles per day for the last 3 days. We recorded our longest day to date today: 23 miles!!! Since it's very hot and dry during the day we've taken to hiking later in the evenings now. The light is much prettier and the weather is cooler towards the end of the day which makes for much more pleasant hiking.
Today, for instance, we stopped and ate an early dinner then kept hiking. Normally dinner marks the end of our day and the initiation of vegetation. Even though we like having our big meal at the end of the day, this seems to be the only way for us to get in more than 20 miles. We've been walking up and down rocky forested hillsides which go on for miles but can make for frustrating terrain. These sharp loose rocks are not only a risk for twisting ankles, but really leave the bottom of your feet sore and aching.
The elevations aren't as dramatic but the vast ruffled blankets of pine trees that line the ridges are no less beautiful than the High Sierras were. Water is becoming more scarce and more of an issue for us. We're having to plan carefully ahead again as the droughts in California have left many water sources dry. This means carrying more water weight just like when we started. Both our bladders were starting to get moldy so we ditched them and are relying solely on Gatorade bottles for water vessels now. It sure beats constant thunderstorms and hail, however.
We came and went through Sierra City yesterday. We were looking forward to this stop because we knew we were getting a package from both of Mike's parents as well as my super cool Seattle friend Dafna!!! We got lots of delicious treats; beer, chocolate, homemade cookies, and snacks were all a welcome addition to our food resupply. Thank you so much to everyone!!! All the extra treats and food we got from the hiker box came in very handy since food at the Sierra City Country Store was twice as expensive as a regular store. Mike's dad also mailed us our homemade tarp tent back which we were glad to swap out with our trial MSR FlyLite tent. It had a good run but we liked our handiwork better.
Sierra City was supposed to be a very hiker friendly little town but we didn't necessarily find this to be the case. There were cheap enormous sandwiches at the Country Store (Mike ate a 1-pound cheeseburger, "the Gut-Buster", and I got an Italian sub with almost as much meat on it). However, locals weren't super friendly and we got the general vibe that we were a bit of a nuisance. This could've been due to the presence of some other party-hard PCTers that were also in town, one of whom passed out drunk in the town gazebo on main street, another of which was hitch-hiking with beer in hand. In any case, we didn't outstay our welcome and got back on the trail late in the afternoon. We found the tipsy hitcher napping in the middle of the trail about a half-mile in. Some PCTers enjoy town stops as much as hiking and can leave a bad taste in the mouth of locals in the towns near the trail. We got the feeling this might be the case more often than not in Sierra City.
I got to take one of the most interesting showers in Sierra City. We swam at an awesome swimming hole only a mile before reaching Sierra City so I wasn't feeling that dirty but the showers were free and Dafna had sent me some nice conditioner so I couldn't pass up the opportunity. I walked around the tiny town trying to find this alleged free shower and finally stopped to ask an older local guy. He told me, "walk up this hill for a minute and then you'll see a gravel parking lot and the shower is right there." I thought, hmmm a shower in a parking lot. I was expecting to see a building of some sort, but oh no. His shower is a single stall constructed of some 2X4s and an old dirty rain tarp. There's a barrel stacked on top of this structure that gets fed directly from the stream that runs through town. A single chair and a dirty old carpet are sitting just outside the "shower" so you can change in the open air for the world to see. Upon seeing this I second guessed weather or not this would be worth the hassle but I told myself that there won't be another chance to shower for at least 130 miles so suck it up and just do it! I stealthily undressed and hopped in to find that the barrel has a regular garden hose coming out of it so you can hold the hose above your head and rinse off. There were only a few spiders and cobwebs around and the water was freezing cold! But hey, my hair is shiny and smooth for the first time in weeks and I don't smell like old moldy popcorn anymore. Quite the experience but definitely worth it!
We've realized that we end up talking quite a bit about food in our posts, devoting at least one paragraph to what we've eaten in each entry. Though this is probably not as fascinating to you readers as it is for us, it's the focus of our attention for a for a large portion of our days. When we were asked what we would miss most on the trail before we departed, we figured good food would be at the top of this list. I also thought going without flip-flops would be a tough luxury to lose. Our longings have transformed due to the frequent availability of food in the towns and comfortable camp footware, forcing us to re-asses our desires. Now we're craving watching a good movie with a cold beer and fresh popcorn on a comfy couch with air conditioning. So if anyone wants to mail us a solar-powered lightweight DVD player and a portable popcorn machine that would be greaaaaaat! Having a book to read together is a good supplement so that's a start. We started the first book in the Game of Thrones series and are moving rapidly through.
We should be pressing on with more 20-mile days as we make our way to Chester, CA. We hope to see more water but have heard that might be unlikely. Tomorrow night we're targeting a large-ish river that we spotted on the Topo maps for our campsite. For now, we'll focus on staying cool, hydrated, and resting often to chow down on our bounty of delicacies.
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