Trail Day 81: Highway 49 Crossing (mile 1195.4) to tentsite (mile 1203.8)
8.4 PCT miles, plus 1.5 mile road walk from Sierra City
The first thing I needed to do this morning was some cleaning. Right next to the church are public restrooms that also have a free shower. Unfortunately it is only a cold water shower. I didn't have any shampoo, so my hair stayed oily and greasy, but I was at least able to get a layer of dirt off my body.
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| Methodist Church under the Sierra Buttes. |
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| Sierra City looking west. |
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| Sirrra City looking east. |
Since there was no laundry in town I rinsed my socks and underwear in the sink, you know, like a homeless person. I have heard of thru-hikers being mistaken for being homeless before. I understand why now. Sage was mistaken for being homeless somewhere near Sonora and was given a shower, some food, and a clean t shirt.
I went back to my tent, redid the dressings on my knee, and left to go to the country store. On my way there I saw One-Eleven, who was also drying his socks and underwear like a hobo.
At the store I was able to pick up some fuel for my jetboil and a drink. I joined One-Eleven on the side of the store where there was a lounge area set up for hikers that also had outlets. I charged my electronics, answered messages, and worked on my remaining blog entries.
Eventually One-Eleven left for the trail and Farrah arrived from the trail. I asked her to keep an eye on my electronics I was charging and went to break down my tent. I got everything packed and headed back to the store.
It was lunch time, so I ordered a bacon cheeseburger with fries and a chocolate milkshake from the deli in the country store. The food was absolutely amazing. It was really filling too. I had to put some of it aside, run an errand, and come back to finish it.
The errand I ran was at the post office. I was mailing back my leaking air mattress because I was going to receive a replacement (closed foam) mattress in my resupply box.
My resupply box was going to get into town in the afternoon, so after lunch I lounged on a bench. The man running the deli saw me laying there and pulled out a camp pad for me to nap on. I rested there in the heat for a couple hours before my packages arrived.
I tried to put my food in my food bag and swap out gear as quickly as I could as I needed to get back on the trail. I was swapping out my worn out boots for my trail runners and my leaking air mattress for a thermarest z lite sol, the sleeping pad that the majority of the other hikers carry.
With my new pad being bigger than my old pad and my food bag bursting, things weren't fitting as well in my pack anymore. I haphazardly shoved everything in and left for the trail. It was at least 3:30 pm when I left.
This time, there was no nice resident to give me a ride so I walked the 1.5 miles uphill to get to the trailhead. I was going to be climbing the buttes today and I wasn't excited about doing it in the heat of the afternoon.
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| Back on the trail. |
Luckily, the switchbacks were through a forested area so they were nice and shaded. When I did emerge from the forest, I was high enough that there was a nice breeze. I walked along the rocky trail until I hit the 1200 mile marker. I had been waiting to see this for a long time. I took my picture next to it and kept walking.
The trail traversed and switchbacked up the side of the butte for a long time. I think I had about 8 miles of uphill from the road crossing. The views were very beautiful as the sun was getting lower in the sky.
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| Nearing the top of the buttes. |
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| View of the valley. |
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| View from the trail. |
The trail turned into a forested area during sunset itself. I could get a few peeks of it here and there and it looked spectacular. It was casting red light onto the trees in the forest.
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| Sunset through the trees. |
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| Sunset casting red shadows on the trees. |
I found a camping spot just as the sun had set, set up camp, and ate dinner overlooking the last bit of light over the mountains.
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