Hello from the Red Moose Cafe in Sierra City, CA! We are making a quick stop at this homey 'cafe' that hosts hikers to the max...home-cooked meals, showers, camping in backyard, Internet, phone, laundry, great people. Thank you Margaret, Bill, and Coach K! Back on the trail after the all you can eat rib dinner tonight....
Needing to finish the previous blog, we decided to camp close to the library in order to save time in the morning. After an early rise, we had breakfast (twice) and finished the blog around 1 PM. On the way out of town, we stopped at Izzy's Burger Joint, a donut shop, and a malt shop before catching two awesome rides back up to Echo Lake where our journey resumes. We traversed the rim of Echo Lake amongst granite cliffs and eventually descended in snow to the massive, beautiful Aloha Lake. Many day hikers were heading there too and all were amazed at the fact that not only were we heading to Canada, but we had also started in Mexico! After passing by Heather and Suzie Lake, we made camp on a cold, full moon night.
12 PCT miles, 1105 S->N
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| Lake Tahoe |
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| Aloha Lake |
Another early rise to cruise up and down Dick's Pass....wrong. Sending our microspikes home a few days ago made the hard, icy climb and descent much slower than expected. Adam fell hard at least once on the descent, knocking the wind out of him, before reaching Dick's Lake at the bottom. We ran into a couple weekenders on a little trip and a fisherman along the lake. All were quite in shock with the amount of snow that surrounded them and covered the trail. We cruised past multiple alpine lakes before reaching dry ground and exiting the Desolation Wilderness Area. Just before lunch, we ran into our old friend Sly, who joined us for the remainder of the day. After crossing Barker Pass, we lost the trail for a bit but soon found it after a climb and settled in a valley below Twin Peaks for a hot meal. Back on the trail until dark, we cruised through the clouds to a gorgeous ridge with the sun setting to the West and the moon rising to the East.
29 PCT miles, 1134 S->N
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| Last View on the PCT from 9,000 Feet! |
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| Lake Tahoe |
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| Sunset from Ridge below Twin Peaks |
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| Sunrise with Lake Tahoe in Foreground |
A magnificent sunrise over Lake Tahoe encouraged us to crawl out of the tent and get moving again. We cruised the ridge along a couple ski hills and up to a gap hovering above Squaw Valley. Following long slides and footprints, we flew down the ski slopes on our sitters to the floor of Squaw Valley. Soon, we realized we had been following the wrong prints for the last 2 miles (1,500 feet of STEEP descent). After a 2 mile climb on the Granite Chief Trail, we were back on the PCT. We descended down to a canyon for lunch and climbed right back up the other side along a volcanic ridge to Tinker Knob. We then were rewarded with a long ridge-line descent to Donner Pass. Before reaching Donner Pass, we ran into our most bizarre encounter thus far on the trail. We came around a corner to find a 9 year old girl, dressed in Converse and a sun hat, frantically blowing on her emergency whistle and hollering for Dad. At first, we thought she was in fear of her life as the two ape-like men startled her as they came around the corner. After a short talk with Gabby, we found out that she was on a 22 mile hike with her extended family and they lost each other on the way back to their summer cabin. Gabby was quite the trooper and soon relaxed when she discovered we had hiked all the way from Mexico. We soon helped her find her father, who was pouring out sweat as he was rushing up the tree-covered slope to find his lost daughter. Gabby was extremely thankful to have the company while searching for her family in the wilderness. Adam and Forest were extremely thankful to find Gabby's father, as we had no clue how we were going to take Gabby with us to Canada. After the escapade, we cooked our dinner at Donner Pass and ran into Deacon, a trail angel giving rides to hikers in need of a resupply in Truckee. We cruised a few more miles to camp near the bustling I-80.
25 PCT miles, 1159 S->N
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| Looking down on Ski Resort from Gap near Granite Chief |
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| Squaw Valley Detour Sighting |
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| Riding the Ridge between Tinker Knob and Anderson Peak |
With anticipation of less snow and a big day of walking ahead, we rose early and jumped back on the PCT, cruising under a couple of tunnels beneath I-80. Just about immediately, we were buried in snow and took a 2 mile detour before getting back on trail, where we found our savior, Egg Man, who probably just rolled out of the tent and tossed down an omelet to start the day. Egg Man, with his GPS, was exactly what we needed today to get us out of the snow fast. The 3 of us cruised all day, eventually getting out of the snow and finding fast, dry trail. We rode a volcanic ridge matted with blooming Sierra wildflowers for miles and passed through multiple aromatic conifer forests. It was a beautiful day for walking, as they all are by now. After a two dozen long switchbacks, we landed along Milton Creek (5,240 feet) for camp with the mosquitoes. Thanks Egg Man!
34 PCT miles, 1193 S->N
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| THE Egg Man! |
A quick 6 miles downhill brought us to Sierra City, CA, a tiny town of about 200 people. We immediately stopped in the Red Moose Cafe, where we had a wonderful breakfast and grabbed a quick shower. Today, we are doing a quick resupply, laundry, updating the blog, getting some extra Calories, and hitting the trail again this evening.
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| Sierra Buttes from Descent to Sierra City |
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| Just Like Home.... |
We plan to be in Belden, CA, in about 3 or 4 days. Depending on the snow levels, we are not sure when we will be at our next town stops. Hopefully, we can give you an itinerary from Belden, the end of the Central California section and nearly half the distance to Canada. Thanks again to all of you for so much support and love along our journey. Continue to think of Camp AmeriKids this summer, as they start camp in less than a month.
Spread the word. Spread the love.
Much love,
F+A
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