Meadow Lake - Sierra City 7/27/10 23 miles

Woke up to everyone rolling out of camp. They were headed into town and were excited. We planned on camping close and going in tomorrow. IT was a pretty easy day. We ate lunch under a nice bride on the creek to avoid the sun. WE took a little snooze to let our food settle. My Crocs are doing alright as my temporary hiking shoes, but it sucks having to carry my real ones. Eleven miles to go. We crossed a road that lead to town and debated on hitching on in. No luck. We continued our walk, supposedly all downhill. It was a winding roller coaster, but still easy walking. We got to the 2 mile road shortcut to town at about 6pm and decided to go on in. It was a steep downhill on a gravel road to a campground. Nice campground. The burgers and beer being consumed only made us more ready for town. The road turned to pavement and went through a nice residential/vacation cabin area. It's fun to look at houses after not seeing any for five days. The walk seemed to take forever, but we coasted the hill and saw main street. Population 220! It was an old gold mining town! We ran into Walking Flower coming out as we were going in. She said the store had just closed, but there was a place called the Red Moose. Ribs, shower, laundry and a place to stay. We were so excited! WE rolled up to twelve stuffed thru hikers. We walked in and met Bill and Margaret, the owners. They were present day gold miners and had bought the building just six weeks earlier. it was half bar and half hotel with apartments upstairs. They had bought it to store their equipment in the giant basement. They planned to lease the bar out, but had no takers and decided to take car of hikers in their spare time. We ate all-you-can-eat ribs, beans, potatoes and carrots for $12, for the two of us. Free shower and laundry and we were able to camp in their back yard. Super nice couple. They would had given us the shirts of their backs and free run of their house, which they did. Thanks!! -CM