September 15

Distance: 13.5 miles | Ascent: 3430′ | Descent: 1230′

Mile marker: 1472.8

Brunch: J&A – tortilla chips and salsa (A-), peanut butter tortilla wraps (B-)

Dinner: J – Thai peanut noodles (A), A – chili mac (Alex has fallen asleep already, but she said chili was one of her favorite meals. I’ll guess she’d give it an A-)

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We relished in our real bed, sleeping in until almost 7 am! We were in no rush. Jason went to the store across the street at 8 am when they opened and bought more snacks for this stretch and some for breakfast. This is the first time we’ve really added significantly to the food in our resupply box – and we accidentally chose one of the more expensive places to do it. A bag of chips, can of salsa, 10 protein/candy bars, a cup of coffee, a jar of peanut butter, and a bag of tortillas totaled close to $70. They have a captive audience: there are no other grocers for tens of miles. With our hunger reaching ravenous levels, we had no other option. Jason especially needs the calories. He’s withering.

We ate in the hotel room as we got ready for the day. Alex sewed her pants, which had been developing holes in unseemly places. The fabric is disintegrating, and it’s looking like they will soon need to be replaced. Jason did some research on the trail and our resupply plan up ahead.

Eventually, we were ready enough to sort our resupply box. We went out to the little picnic table by the store and dug into the box. As we sorted, a woman offered us a ride to Quincy if we were going that way. We declined but got to talking. She was a trail angel who hosted people at her cabin in Quincy and seemed to give hikers countless rides all around California. It was only her first year doing it, but she seemed to love helping this strange community of hikers.

Once we sorted our things, we asked the trail angel if she could drive us to the trailhead – it would save us a 1.5 mile uphill road walk. She was all the happy to take us, and we squeezed ourselves and our packs into her cute VW Bug.

Coming south out of Sierra City was our last real climb of Northern California. Once we hit the peak, it’s just ridge bouncing and smooth sailing. Once we hit the High Sierras south of Lake Tahoe, it’ll be a different story.

We climbed until after dark, not quite reaching the peak of the climb out of Sierra City, but taking off a good chunk of this final NorCal climb. Our last view during golden hour illuminated a crumbling granite rock face.

We’re going to try to hike marathons our next three days. We’ve done long days, but not continuously like this. There are plenty of hikers who average close to 30 miles/day, but we like the 20-25 mile range. After 25 miles, the hiking becomes tedious, and we find it hard to appreciate our surroundings as much as we should. The days are also getting shorter. We’re having to hike from nearly sunrise to sunset. Soon, it’ll be hiking from before sunrise to after sunset. Thankfully, this section should be our highest mile average section of the whole trip (unless Jason messed up the planning).