- Date: Sunday June 21, 2015
- Miles hiked: 21.08 PCT miles (most of them, though we did detour down Wild Plum Road to walk into Sierra City)
- Miles covered: 1181.52 to 1202.60 PCT
- Weather Report: Low 52, High 78. Sunny and warm and dry and breezy with deep blue skies. Again, most of the day was hiking in the low 70s
- Wildlife seen: chipmunks, lizards
- Mood of the day: Confident and capable
Today is basically "walk into town, get the supply box, eat, repack, walk out of town"... and that's what we did.
It was a fast 14 mile walk into town, mostly downhill, and unremarkable, except that we are now hiking at lower elevations, and the plants have changed--I'm now seeing big-leaf maple and alder and thimbleberry and very Pacific Northwesty plants.
We got to Sierra City around noon, picked the packages from the pile in the back of the store, and commenced eating. I had a 1/2 pound hamburger with bacon, swiss, avocado, along with a chocolate milkshake and a 20 oz bottle of 7-up. It all was tasty, so for dessert I had a mint Its It ice cream sandwich. I'm guessing that all is about 2000 calories, but I really don't care how much I eat because it all burns off quickly.
After lunch I took a cold shower in the visitor center bathroom, crammed everything in my pack, ordered new shoes from REi and more SD card memory from Amazon... and then we walked out of town. Sage stopped at the library and tried to pick out a book; they were all awful but I chose "The Name Of The Rose" for him. At least if he doesn't like it he can bury it.
We decided to put some more miles in, and got back on the PCT below the Sierra Buttes, huge old remnants of a volcano. The trail was very PCT-y, long ascents without a break, and we climbed some 3500 feet in elevation to right around 7000 feet.
It wasn't particularly hard for me, just long, and the loose rocky tread of the trail became tedious after awhile. I did encounter three mountain bikers on the PCT, and asked them "Do you guys know that you can't ride mountain bikes on the PCT?" "Yep", and they rode on. It was polite, but still guys! I did take a video of them.
It was getting towards sunset, and there were no camping spaces at all.
I stopped and Flying Fish (trail name) walked by, wearing nothing but a tiny sarong. It's Hike Naked day, he told me, and he set up camp on one of the promotories below the buttes.
Everntually at the Sierra Buttes Spring we spotted a gloomy campsite that would do. Not my favorite, but it was almost completely dark, and I'm going to be asleep soon. I didn't even bother with cooking or making this blog entry all fancy, it's just been a long day and I'm doing my duty. Good night.
