Day 79 – Sierra City

Miles: 1191.5 to 1202.4

Trail Miles: 10.9

Miles Hiked: 14.0

Woke early-ish, 0530. On trail at 0715 after nice morning breakfast.

My one trekking pole was definitely broken. Going over some rocks I put weight on it and it bent. Decided to put it away and save it for tent use only. I’ve realized how much poles make climbs easier, not just descents. Since Campo the poles have become an extension of my body, part of my gait. Walking with only one was awkward, particularly on the uphill. Assuming I could find internet available in Sierra City, I’d order another set of poles but it’d be at least 5 days or more without them. Judging by how rocky the trail was this morning, I might be living up to my trail name even more now with only one pole.

I got to Hwy 49 just before 9 am. The town was 1.5 miles west, but no cars stopped when I held out my thumb. I walked the mile and a half to the General Store. It was crawling with hikers. The deli was already running out of items on the breakfast menu due to the demand.

I ran into Surge and then Momento. Got caught up on everyone’s whereabouts and status.

After breakfast with Momento at a restaurant nearby, I went back to the store to find my 3 boxes. One was from Betty’s Mom and contained supplements. One was the resupply box full of 7 days of food that I had forwarded from Soda springs last Friday. The third box was from REI and was a new pair of trail runners. My fourth pair and I wasn’t even at the halfway point yet! My current pair of Altra Olympus had done well getting me through the Sierra

The Sierras were hard on everything.

The postmaster was so helpful – didn’t kick me out when I walked in to mail a package 12 minutes after closing time.

Got a cold shower at public restroom. Then started the1.5 mile road walk back to trailhead. I tried to get a hitch, but no cars stopped for me or the other 3 hikers doing the same thing.

Got on trail at 4:30 and started the climb to Sierra Buttes. I’m glad it was later in the day – as it was it was a hot climb, but at least I was in the shade for most of it.

The elevation change was: 4171 in Sierra City to 7146 ft where I camped, over seven miles.

Didn’t make it to my hoped for campsite 2 miles further. It was 7:30 pm and I felt like stopping. In the next hour 8 more hikers would come by and either camp nearby or continue.

Sierra Buttes

I wasn’t hungry but heated some water for oatmeal and Russian tea ( a mix of tang and sweet ice tea mix – it’s pretty good).

Settled in for the night and catching up on the blog since I didn’t get anything done while in Sierra City.