Day 80 7-7-08

Slept great! Up at 0530, over here at the Best Western using their internet access because I can! They have a Deluxe Continental breakfast that is starting up in......on 2 minutes, so we are here and ready, I think they even have a waffle maker! I know they have tables and chairs and it looks fancy! We stayed at the hotel next door, but have access to everything here at Best Western! Can't beat that! Ok, Breakfast, then the PO at 0730 and then a ride to the trail and we are Northward bound. The terrain is different 138.2 miles north, more volcanic mountains, big trees, and flat walking! Hopefully we can make up some miles and we'll be out of California in about 400 miles! Wow! Really feels like we are getting somewhere now.............even if it did involve a ride up here! Have a great Monday........it's waffle time! :) The picture I just attatched is of us yesterday.......hanging around on our little patch of grass in Chester! Fun times!

Day 79 July 6, 2008

Had a good night's sleep inside a house! Woke up to Wasa cooking up a storm! He is quite the chef, he made gingerbread (I got the recipe it was so good!) Homemade biscuits, this egg souffle type of thing with zuchinni and all sorts of veggies in it and Carol made fruit salad! What a great morning! Wasa and Carol traded recipes like baseball cards and then we packed up and Chris gave us a ride up to Chester (which was quite the drive) Along the way, we saw road fire detour signs and more smoke. We dropped Wasa at the trail (cause he was ready to go) and ran into Ash, Roscoe, and Just Ben. Then Chris brought us to town and gave us the tour, we even checked out this ball field where it looked like it might be a nice place to camp for the evening! Thank you for everything Chris and Carol. Then we went to the supermarket (this was around 11am) and found a nice patch of shady grass to sit on for the next...........oh........5 hours! Slider, Thrust, Graybeard, JZ, Antfarm and Swiffer rolled in around 2pm, so there were a bunch of us........just hanging out and taking turns buying stuff in the store. Around 5pm, Slider and Graybeard went to check out the ballfield and found "no camping, no loitering" type of signs...........uh oh. Then.....Mark drove up and said, "are you guys PCT hikers? and do you need a ride to the trail?" Why......yes we are, and yes we will! We asked if he had somewhere we could camp for the night and he told us that he was the manager of the Best Western just down the street! Perrrrfect! There were 8 of us and we really didn't want to dish out tons of cash for a quick one night stay (we had already checked in town motel prices and they were PRICEY) So, Mark called up the hotel next to the Best Western (he manages that one too!) And struck us up a deal that we could not refuse! (and we had no where else to go at this point!) So, we all walked down there, got 2 rooms for the 8 of us and took showers and grabbed dinner at the Copper Kettle and then went back and went to BED! What a day! We were basically wasting the time until the PO opens at 0730 on Monday morning for our packages (maps, food, etc)

Day 78 July 5th :)

Happy birthday Chels!! We were up early and hiked the 3.5 miles in no time, caught a ride into Sierra City within minutes and found where the hikers were in town minutes after that! 2 nice ladies had rented out an apartment above a restaurant in town (view of town from apt above) and were letting hikers stay with them! We showered, did laundry and were eating breakfast all by 9am! I called Chels (her b-day) and Gram Peg (to have her NOT mail out a package of ours) and made some muffins for breakfast. The hikers were coming in and figuring things out (the next 138.2 miles of trail are basically closed due to forest fires) So, most are hitching rides up to Chester and continuing north on the PCT, a few are walking random roads to get to Chester so they can say that they did walk from Mexico to Canada....we are already missing those 39 miles back in Idyllwild, so we'll just add these miles to the missed section and keep going north on the trail that is open. Around 4pm, we decided that instead of hanging out in this town, we would head to/try to get to Chester (pretty far by car from here), so we made a sign and stuck out our thumbs and smiled :) Our first ride was to Barretts in the back of a pickup with 2 people going biking (we were with the bikes, picture of Buttes that we'll missing hiking near in picture above), our second ride was to Graeagle with a nice couple that wasn't even going there, but went out of their way for us (thank you again Micheal, Pamela and Pippin (the pup))! As we were walking out of the festival traffic of Graeagle, a young lady on her way to Quincy drove by and picked us up! Wow, we were rolling now! She left us in Quincy (where there was a massive 4th of July 4 day music festival going on) 6pm now, we were starting to think about where we were going to spend the night when Carol and Chris walked up to us (and Chris was wearing a PCT hat!!!) and they offered us their house for the night (they were going to the festival) Wow! So, the owner of the gas station gave us a lift up the road close to their house! Wasa is here also (they found him in town earlier) and I've been on this laptop for hours updating this blog! Wasa just made some homemade gingerbread, Neighbor is sleeping on the floor and I'm about ready to do the same, what a day! Chris and Carol have offered to give us a ride to Chester tomorrow, so we'll officially be at mile 1335.8 and walk north from there. All of our maps/info are at the PO in Chester, so we might have to wait until Monday morning to actually start the walking north process, but we'll be in the right town to do it! So, 3.5 miles of walking and 5 different rides have brought us to Quincy. The smoke is thick in the air and it doesn't look like it's getting better anytime soon, so hopefully north of Chester will be better. 2008, the year of the fire......or is it always like this out here?!

Day 77 4th of July

Slept great with the 2 benedryl I took last night for the poison oak that is now more than one spot on my leg! Smoke had cleared a bit by the morning, sleeping bags were a bit damp from the moisture (we were near a creek/meadow/wetland area) Hiking by 6am, today was going to be a big mileage day because yesterday was not! Lots of downhill to start the day (fine by me) We hiked 15 miles by noon and went over these 2 bald mountains and the wind was pretty intense, pushing me around a bit. Had lunch around 1:30, more PB (and jelly this time) and a bag of smartfood popcorn that I carried out of Soda Springs the day before. Hiked the ridge above a reservoir and could hear families below boating, swimming, camping, doing 4th of July family together things and you remember home, if we had not hiked past that area, it would have been just another day in the woods to us. Still lots of smoke in the air (but today I convinced myself it was a BBQ!!) Hiked all but 3.5 miles into Sierra city (which was somewhere around 30.5 miles for the day) and cooked up some dinner, no mosquitoes, but a few no-see-ums were out and biting.

Day 76 July 3, 2008

Beautiful sunrise, hiking by 0545, 4 miles to Tinker Knob and we could see I-80 from there. Wandered the ridge for a bit in the open breeze, as we got closer to Donner Pass there were lots of day hikers! Made it to the road for 1030 and caught a ride the 3.5 miles down to Soda Springs where there was a little country store and DELI! We each had a sub and soda and little snack and I bought a couple snacks for the trail and then we caught another ride back up the hill and were hiking north again by 1230! Perfect! 4 more miles and we crossed under I-80 (for those of you following us on the AAA map) Walked past a rest stop and stopped in for some water and the use of the bathroom for a bit. (today was a lazy day) Then we hiked on about 5 more miles and came to the Peter Grubb Ski hut (2 story camp that hikers can stay in) it was soo nice, we decided to stay! Lots of hikers here, Irish who we hadn't seen in quite some time and Brit who remembered us from Gorham, NH last year when I gave him a ride to the store from Hiker's Paradise (small world) It was only 4:30, but we called it a day and decided to tent outside the hut (kinda dark inside) well, the smoke from the forest fires was soo thick, we almost changed our minds! Taking a deep breath is just not an option.

Day 76 July 3, 2008

Beautiful sunrise! Hiking by 0545, 4 miles to Tinker Knob and we could see I-80 from

Day 75 July 2nd, 2008

Up with the mosquitoes, walking fast, hiked to Barker Pass, took a break there. JZ saw 5 bears this morning! Yikes, that makes you think when you are sleeping with your food as a pillow! :) Walked 5 more miles and the Tahoe Rim trail and PCT trails finally split (we hiked about 39 miles on the TRT) Could see Lake Tahoe from the trail, it's a massive lake! Then we got to walk a great ridge with a wonderful breeze and no mosquitoes for about 5 miles! Eventually hiked 27 miles and camped near Granite Chief Mtn (which is part of Squaw Valley ski resort) Amazing camp spot with a great sunset and sunrise! Heard today that the trail might be closed up ahead due to forest fires....

Nimblewill Nomad, Gordon and Neighbor

Day 74 July 1, 2008

Stomach felt ill all night, too much food! It was an all you can eat and I did just that! Jumped in Gordon's van by 7:30 and he gave us a ride back up to the trail at Echo Lake. Nimblewill is having some trouble with his foot and isn't hiking for a few days, but he'll be back on the trail in no time. Saw Chief come into Echo Lake as we were leaving, always good to see him. More easy walking, this section of the trail is also part of the Tahoe Rim Trail (100 ish mile trail that goes around Lake Tahoe) but lots of the trail is actually crushed rock, so you feel like you are at a park or something. Tons of hikers out and about. Walked past Aloha Lake, beautiful lake after lake in this area. Over Dick's Pass and down into a lowland section where the mosquitoes thrive and came out in full force around 5pm. Called it quits around 6pm, I had to put the head net on while cooking dinner. Oh, we mailed our bear cannisters back from South Lake Tahoe! And I got a letter from Gram and papa and I finally got postcard stamps! So, no more heavy awkward cannisters to tote around with us.....instead, the food comes in the tent with us, which felt a little weird after having our food in a safe zone for so many miles, but that's that!

Day 73 June 30, 2008

Good night's sleep in a bed and with a big fluffy pillow! Thrust, JZ, Cruising, Neighbor and I went to Ihop for breakfast (nothing fancy, but it was good) Did our laundry, picked up a cheese pizza for lunch and walked half way back to the motel, saw Lake Tahoe (blue beautiful water, like the Carribean) Gave up on the walking and finally caught a bus back to the motel. I found a Nestle Tollhouse Cafe! What a great little place! We realized that this massive mosquito bite on the back of my leg might actually be poison oak! So, I put some prescription cream (that I've been carrying since Mexico) on it. Made a few phone calls and a bunch of us (the crew, plus Antfarm and Swiffer) all went to the All you can eat buffet in the next town over (which was technically in Nevada...wow, a new state!!) I felt ill afterwards as we waddled back to the room.

Day 72 June 29, 2008

More cereal for breakfast, 11 miles to Carson Pass and were there by 1030, the rangers had a box of clementines out for the hikers.....yumm! Hiked over Elephant's back (little snow on the trail still) Stopped at Shower Lake for lunch with "the crew" Rolling meadows, easy walking and we were not sure if we'd make it all the way to Echo lake, but it was looking good at this point! As we got closer to the road, Neighbor came upon this little pup howling in the woods, the little guy was lost and followed us to the parking lot! He had a couple phone numbers on his tag, so Slider called one and a lady came and picked little Kabyah up! Only 2 miles from the Echo Lake PO/store, but it was going to close soon, so I gave Shirley my license and a note and she was able to get our packages for us! Nice! Now, all of us at Echo Lake piled into the 2 vehicles (Shirley's car and Gordon's van) and went down to South Lake Tahoe (big spread out city) We got a room for the night, grabbed some dinner and went in the hot tub! What a day and we hiked about 26 or 27 miles! Care packages from Gram and Grampa (homemade molasses cookies and some bars!) Pilgrim (get this 4 CANS of Moxie!, some Trader Joe's ginger chews, trail mix and mango slices, toblerone, Jambalaya and some other fun trail foods) Priscilla (freeze dried meals, cookies, ghiradelli, spices, green tortillas.....hope they were green when you mailed them! and some other treats)

same day, amazing different terrain!

Day 71 June 28, 2008

Skipped the cereal this morning, too many mosquitoes! Uphill right away and we are off! Beautiful terrain, canyons and meadows. About 7 miles in the "crew" met their support team. (Graybeard's wife is meeting him at road crossings so he doesn't have to carry a full load) And Nimblewill Nomad is being supported by Gordon in "the van" but Nimblewill is not hiking right now due to an infected foot (which he is pretty upset about, but he'll be back in the trail in no time) Slider, JZ and Thrust were hiking with Nimblewill until the foot issue, but they are still meeting up at roads until Nimblewill gets back on the trail. Anyway, we hiked the short side trail to the parking lot and ate our cereal there this day. Back on the trail, lots of hikers out and about (it's a Saturday) More PB and oreo's for lunch (love this diet) We had hiked 24 miles by 4pm, so we camped with the crew near a parking lot and they let us in on their dinner, so for $5 each, we had Chop Suey, green beans and hot dogs for dinner....on the trail! Nice!

Day 70 June 27, 2008

Hank whipped us up some hot tea/coffee for breakfast, we ate some cereal and started hiking around 7am. Little more snow to walk over, but easy going for the most part. We had hiked 14 miles by noon, enjoyed a PB sandwich, some Mollie brownies and were on our way! Around 3:30, the sky darkened again and we thought we were in for it, but it only sprinkled a little (lucky us) Today was the first day in a long time that we didn't have to take the shoes off for even one river crossing! Yeah! Neighbor wore shorts today (2nd time on the trip) and I rolled my pants up a bit (it's hot) Stopped early, but we had hiked close to 25 miles, so that's good enough. Neighbor did a little sewing job on my backpack (it was starting to tear at the shoulder strap and we wanted to fix it before it came out completely) Mosquitoes were a little rough, but I just jumped in the tent!

The rest of our day in Brigeport!

What a great town Bridgeport was. After I finished updating our blog, Mollie cooked us up some fried egg and cheese sandwiches and we enjoyed the great brownies she made! Then it was time to go, Mollie gave us a to-go baggie of brownies (thanks again!!) We checked back in at the Post Office for post card stamps (no stamps, so I carried the Yosemite postcards another 75 miles.....) and walked past the laundromat where we saw Slider, Thrust, Cruising, JZ, and Graybeard, they remarked on how clean and refreshed we looked, so we told them how we had just met the nicest couple and they all wondered if they could get showers too......so, off they went! (Sorry Mollie if we had your house invaded by stinky hikers that day, but it was definitely appreciated by one and all) Then it was off to Buster's Market to buy some food for the next 75 mile stretch. That is a pricey little market and we found it cheapest to resupply with candy bars! (fine by me!!) And the only bread product we could find was a loaf of bread! That was wonderful in the bear cannister! So, candy bars and a loaf of white bread and PB for the next stretch! Yummy! We hitched for a ridge outside of Busters and saw a lady in a green Subaru outback drive by with NH plates! small world, got a ride to the Sonora Pass junction with a local man and then the sky darkened and it started pouring like mad! Yikes! He told us how there have been lots of dry lightening fires lately (no rain, just lightening!) Luckily the rain slowed as he dropped us off and we were picked back up again in no time by a young lady on the way to her dad's 60th b-day party. So, back at Sonora Pass, we ran into Hank who was doing a little trail magic for a couple days, we hung out with him for the evening. He said it hailed up there earlier when it was pouring in the valley below! Crazy weather. Thrust, JZ, Slider, Graybeard and his wife Shirley, Nimblewill Nomad and Gordon all showed up and camped there at the pass that evening.

sunrise on Day 69 June 26, 2008

Hiking early, 3.5 miles to Sonora Pass, warm night. Saw Gordon and Nimblewill Nomad at the Pass. Caught a ride down to Bridgeport with this great couple going fishing and found a cafe for breakfast (where we ran into the couple again) and when we finished with our Cheddar and Bacon Omelette.........we found out that the couple had paid for our breakfast! Wow! Went to the laundrymat, cleaned clothes, then to the PO and mailed home some more stuff that we don't need. Then this man (Steve) comes into the PO and says that he takes hikers to his house if we need anything! Well.......I couldn't tell you how much I wanted a shower! So, we followed him home (like puppy dogs!) and we are here now with Mollie and she made us brownies (after we weighed ourselves......and I'm 110.5 and Neighbor is 187...yikes!!) and wow, we are clean and feeling GREAT! I love this town and it's only .5 mile long, so we don't have to walk far at all! Now, we'll go to the little store, buy some food for the next 75 miles to Echo Lake and get ourselves back up to Sonora Pass and back on the trail.........headed North! Thank you so much Steve and Mollie......people like you are amazing and make our trip what it is.

Barren trail, but nice views!

Day 68 June 25, 2008

Mosquitos were awake before us! Skipped the cereal and just got moving! Still easy walking, gotta love the terrain change! Passed Dorothy Lake (picture to the left) Hiked 20 miles by 2pm and only saw Cliff Clavin all day long. Felt good at 3pm, so we kept going, but it brought us up to this barren, treeless landscape with drops on all sides and no where to camp! Finally, we found a beautiful spot just below this bowl of snow that looked like a mini Tuckerman's Ravine! Slept on the Tyvek with no tent (no bugs up here) The stars were amazing! Wow, what a great day and we didn't have to use any DEET! Funny how 1 day makes all the difference!

Day 67 June 24, 2008

Lots of ups and downs today. Down into a canyon, cross a raging "creek" and then climb back up the other side, then do it all over again and again and again. Oh and the air is still filled with smoke and now the mosquitos are out in full force. Creek crossings were a little rough today, 2 of them were up to my waist and had some force behind them. And the whole time, the mosquitos are in full attack mode. Fun stuff. I know I was thinking, "why am I here?" thoughts today. I live 5 min drive from 3 major stores that sell lots of food and I'm here?! Crazy! Eventually I just hiked with the headnet on. Came very close to just crashing through one creek (instead of taking the shoes and socks off) because I was covered in mosquitos, but in the end, just pulled out the 29% DEET that we bought in Tuolomne meadows! Hiked 22 miles and put up the tent and jumped inside in the end! Only saw Cliff Clavin today (another thru-hiker) Only 30 miles from Sonora Pass. Filled out some postcards, but forgot to mail them, so I'm carrying them for the next 75 miles!

Day 66 June 23, 2008

Hiking by 7am - easy walking, couple of creek crossings that I thought were going to be tricky were no problem!! (Cathedral Peak in the distance in the photo to the left) The air is filled with smoke, you can see it and smell it and it makes us wonder if we are walking straight into a wild fire that we don't know about yet....rather unsettling. Had to cross a small creek today that I thought I could just throw my sneakers across (instead of strapping them to my pack for the short crossing) well......the first one made it to the other side, and then it bounced off the banking and into the river........and downstream it started to float, so I had to jump into the river and grab my now soaking wet shoe. Ugh. I won't be doing that ever again. Hiked about 23 miles today.

Yosemite National Park!

Day 65 June 22, 2008

Caught a ride down to "The Valley" with Kentucky Graybeard's wife (it was an hour and 30 min drive!!) Then we played tourist for the day! Saw Yosemite Falls (walked up to the lower falls) Took some great pictures of the falls and Half Dome and walked around a bit. Some hikers were going up Half Dome, but we'll save that 16 mile hike for some other day! Hitched back to Crane Flat and were about to stick out our thumbs to get back up to Tuolome Meadows, when who comes around the corner but Gordon in the Van with Nimblewill Nomad!! Yes! What a great day! Camped behind the store with Gordon again and will be back on the trail in the morning, we are ready to hike!!!!

Heading down to Tuolomne Meadows

Day 64 June 21, 2008

3.5 miles to the pass were a breeze! We were at the top of Donahue Pass by 8am! (view from Donahue Pass to the left) While the snow was still hard for once! No slipping and sliding around for us this morning!! Nothing steep or scary either, pretty mellow pass. Then the trail flattened out and meandered along a river/creek for the next .....oh 12 miles?! All the way to Tuloumne Meadows! Picked up a care package from Priscilla (homeade cookies, freeze dried meals, jolly ranchers, spices, tootsie pops! yummm) And a box that we mailed there to ourselves with extra stuff. Then we raided the store! ice cream, yogurt, soda, donuts, chips, you name it............we ate it! :) Then the sky darkend and the strangest thing happened....it rained! Wow, only the 2nd rain in 64 days! No complaints here! We took refuge in the store (which had a canvas roof that nearly blew off) Camped behind the store with Gordon and some people are talking about going down into the "valley" tomorrow (I've never been to Yosemite National Park...........it would be nice to see since we are sooo close)

Thousand Island Lake