Sat. Sept. 10             Miles today: 28.8       Total so far: 2,111.6 miles        Sierras Section L    Sierra City

The sky was so covered with thick, dark clouds when we got up at 5:30 am, that it was hard to see, and it was so cold that we wore all our “woolies” as we carefully followed the trail through the early morning dimness.  At White Rock Creek we filled our water bottles for a long day ahead with few water sources.  it felt more like October than September with gray clouds overhead, occasional sun, strong, cold wind, and trees/plants turning fall colors. 

Then about 9:30 am, it really got weird.  Though the sun was shining at the time, it began to HAIL, about quarter-inch-size white pellets, at first only a few, then more and more.  We stopped under a tree and put on raingear in case the hail became rain, and kept on going, thanking God that thre was no lightning/thunder to go with the hail.  The hail just kept coming down, and pretty soon it looked like it had been snowing!  Finally it stopped and we took off our raingear and said, “That was straaaange!”

The PCT did a lot of moderate ups and downs this morning, plus a “walk to the edge of a lava cliff” that was pretty amazing.  We also did a lot of “crest walking” with great views of all the pretty lakes and reservoirs around here.  The trail was easy going, and we were able to move quickly.  Every now and then it would hail some more (we found out later that it RAINED down below…I prefer hail–it’s nice and “dry”!)  At noon we had stopped for lunch, all bundled up because of the cold, when along came 2 SOBO’s, headed for Mexico, and full of questions about the southbound trail.  They even took notes on what we told them!  Then along came two more people who were RUNNING the PCT, northbound.  All they carry is lunch and water, while friends take care of everything else.  So there we were–a whole crowd of six PCT-ers out in the middle of nowhere!  And the funny thing was, none of us knew where we were, except that we were all on the PCT!

Well, less than an hour later, Bill and I had reached big Jackson Reservoir, and a road with a trail sign that said, “Sierra City 11 1/2 miles.”  It was 2:00 pm.  IF the trail stayed easy, we could make it before sundown.  I began to think about town food–steak, fruit, veggies, bread and a warm room with a shower, vs. Clif bars, dried fruit and a sleeping bag on a cold night in the forest.  So I guess I developed a case of what’s called “town-moto” because Bill says I really started to charge ahead!  And it’s true–since the trail was mostly down and mostly smooth, I was actually able to almost half-run at times!  Moving faster also meant we got warmer, and by 3:00 pm, we were warm enough to take our jackets off.

By late afternoon we were on the big downhill to Milton Creek, but before that we’d had occasional glimpses of an extraordinary mountain up ahead, Sierra Buttes.  Bill said he thought it looked like Mordor in “Lord of the Rings.”  Besides admiring the Buttes, I was also looking at the fall colors along the trail and thinking, “We have 500 miles to go.  Can we make it before the snows come?”  But I cheered myself with the thought that we crossed the 2,100 mile mark today and said, “Thankyou, Lord!  I know You will help us make it through, all the way!”

At last we were walking along beautiful Milton Crek, crisscrossing it on cute bridges, and finally, there it was–the turnoff for Sierra City!  We happily walked along the road, admiring the VARIETY of houses (all sorts: old 1800’s style, log houses, modern cabins, everything!) and the large number of SNOWMOBILES parked in front of them.  One house had two cars and SIX snowmobiles!  When we got to town at about 6:30 pm, we found “no room at the inn”.  The motorcycles parked everywhere explained why.  It was some sort of motorcycle convention, and every room was taken.  But some old guys sitting in front of the hotel told us, “Go ahead and camp by the church lawn–the church folks like hikers.”  Good!  Now we could go find FOOD!  We went to the Mountain Creek Inn, and found other PCT hikers there!  They were headed north, and leave tomorrow.  We sat by a roaring fire in the fireplace and enjoyed a fantastic dinner while talking to the other hikers.  One of the guys had met and taken hiking classes from the famous Ray Jardine.  Wow!  He said that Ray is a real “no-nonsense” guy.  While we were all still busy talking after dinner, the lady who runs the restaurant came by and said, “I love hikers!  You guys really clean your plates!”  We all looked down, and sure enough, all our plates were totally bare–not a scrap of food left!  We all had a good laugh over that one!  Then the other hikers (who were with friends) hopped in a car to drive to a campground, while Bill and I put our woolies back on and went out into the dark and cold, over to the church lawn around the corner.  The old guys had warned us to stay well away from the lawn (“Those lawn sprinklers come on at midnight, and you don’t want to get wet!”), so we snuggled up next to the propane tank and went to bed under a mostly-CLEAR sky with lots of stars.  Tomorrow will have to be a zero day, because the post office won’t open till Monday, but hooray, we get to go to church!   Man, I have missed being able to do that!

Fri. Sept. 9        Miles today: 25.4      Total so far: 2,082.8      Sierras Sections K & L       Donner Pass

It didn’t rain last night–whew, and thankyou, Lord!  And the wind quietened down, too, which was great because our spinnaker fabric tarp is very noisy in wind.  But at 5:30 am, just as we were getting up–wham & whoosh, the wind was back.  Brrrrr!   We strolled over to Squaw Creek and collected a full load of water–enough to get us to Interstate 80 at Donner Pass, 15 1/2 miles away. 

Half an hour into the day’s hike, we met a SOBO sitting outside his tent.  He said he was headed for Campo.  Yikes!  He has a lot more miles ahead of him than we do.  We wondered why he was just sitting around doing nothing instead of hitting the trail and making miles.  Oh well.  After a 700 foot descent, we tackled our first big climb of the day–the 1,000-plus foot uphill to Tinkers Knob.  It ws steep going, but the views were fantastic–deep canyons, lava fomations, granite peaks.  As we got closer to Donner Pass, it was very humbling to look over such rugged country and even dream of bringing a wagon train through.  After Tinker’s Knob, we crest-walked around Anderson Peak, Mt. Lincoln, and Roller Pass, finally reaching Mt. Judah and all the Sugar Bowl “ski stuff.”   We surely are having a tour of the ski resorts!  So far I have been most impressed with Squaw Valley’s “stuff.”  Our crestwalk views had been awesome all the way, but the downside was the cold, stiff wind combined with a rough, rocky trail.  We were VERY glad for our new shoes, but the cold made it hard to stop and eat.  We met one guy we think was a SOBO, but it was so cold and the wind was bloiwng so hard that we basically just said “Hi!” and kept walking.

Near Mt. Judah, we began to hear train whistles and meet dayhikers, which meant that Donner Pass was near.  Sure enough, we reached the last series of horribly rocky switchbacks that take you down to the Pass.  Here we ran into a problem: Bill was in a hurry, figuring there was a restroom at the trailhead, but I’m awfully slow on downhill rough rocks.  (I do great on uphill rocks, though!)  So we agreed that Bill would take off ahead, down the switchbacks, while I picked my way along as best I could.  Since I didn’t feel pressured now to hurry, hurry for Bill’s sake, I did stop a couple of times to admire the whole “Donner Pass scene” that lay below–railroad tracks, tunnels, snowsheds, winding Old Highway 40, and blue Donner Lake. 

But when I got to the bottom, thre was no trailhead parking, no restroom, and no Bill.  I followed the PCT signs up a road to the parking lot for the Sugar Bowl Academy, which was plastered with lots of “NO!” signs–No public telephone, No public restrooms, No public parking, etc.  I asked some people in the parking lot if they had seen Bill.  Yes, they had (good!), but they hadn’t noticed where he went (sigh!).  So I found the PCT across the highway and just started slowly walking up and yelling for Bill, hoping he was around someplace.  And he was–WAY up on the hill, nowhere near either road or trail.  He’s funny that way–when he’s “gotta go” he goes way, way off the trail.  I’m too lazy–I just find the nearest tree trunk or set of bushes and I’m fine.   I waited and waited till Bill finally came down, and we walked a little way along the PCT before stopping for lunch.  It was so cold, with clouds often covering the sun, that I had to put on my “poly-pew” longsleeved black shirt.  We ate fast so we could get moving again and be warm!

After four more miles of wandering PCT, we reached the hiker tunnels under Interstate 80 and the end of Section K of the guidebook.  Hooray, another milestone!  After picking up some water at the I-80 rest area, we began our climb to Castle Pass.  I felt bad about being so slow this morning on the rough trails that I decided to try to make up for it on the uphill this afternoon.  So all through the 1,600 foot climb out of Donner Pass, I was “pushing it big time”.  Only once did I trip over a rock and almost fall, but managed to stay upright, whew!  Past the top of the pass, it was down a bit to pretty, green Round Valley with its famous Peter Grubb Hut.  I wish we could have stayed there, but it was way too early to stop.  The hut has a solar panel (for lights??) and of course a ladder to the second story window so when the snow is deep, you can go in and out that way.

Then came a climb up to 8,500 feet (the highest point in Section L) and a long downhill ito Paradise Valley.  What worried me all during this stretch was that there were some unsigned “mystery trails” coming off the PCT, and a couple of times it was hard to figure out which was PCT and which was not.  We lost time at these puzzling junctions with maps and compass, trying to make sense of things.  I wish they’d put up more PCT emblems to indicate which way to go!  What a relief to reach the SIGNED Paradise Lake junction and see a PCT emblem on a tree!!

At that junction, we hesitated a little.  The weather was looking worse and worse–dark racing clouds, and very cold.  Could the clouds maybe mean….snow???  And the next part of the trail went up and over a high, bare mountain shoulder.  Usually we would say, “Oh, no problem, if the sun goes down while we’re still up high, we’ll just camp up there.”  (We did a lot of that in the High Sierras, but that was on nice hot afternoons with clear blue skies!)  In the end, we decided to go for it, pushing up the hill as fast as we could, and we made it–up and over and down into the forest on the other side!  Before dark, we’d found a nice campsite in a grove with a soft pineneedle duff “floor”, out of the wind.  But it was VERY cold, and the clouds looked pretty menacing.  We rigged the tarp very securely again, and I must admit I really was asking God’s help and protection for us weatherwise both tonight and tomorrow, as I wrote my journal notes and figured out mileage.