Sierra City 7/28/10

Hey yall! We're in Sierra City right now. We lucked up and ended up meeting a super nice couple here at the Red Moose that actually hooked up a ton of hikers! We got in at about 6:30pm yesterday (after a 23 mile day) and were feasting on delicious ribs, potatoes, carrots and fresh fruit by 7:30pm! We had free showers and free laundry and they allowed all of us to camp in the back (on the river :)!! There names are Margaret and Bill and are actually gold miners, so we were entertained with lots of cool stories! Not a lot of time here in town, but we'll be posting again on all of our days out when we arrive in Belden, CA, in about 5 days.

Pleasant Valley Creek - Shower Lake 7/20/10 22.2 miles

Beautiful walking today. We enjoyed some cook, shaded flat forest in the a.m. and took a break at Yosemite Trailhead, where we crossed paths again with our buddy Kiwi. We continued on and the day continued to get better. We had some small climbs and got some awesome views. We had rolling, grassy hills on one side and rocky, snowy ones on the other. WE walked across some hillsides of endless, colorful wildflowers again, as the nice breeze cooled us off. We walked up and around some switchbacks for a while and came upon a patch of snow covered trail on the steep ledge. No biggie, we've cam across far worse, especially in the Sierras. We carefully placed our feet in the footprints and came across. Almost to the end and I slipped. I got very lucky somehow as I dug my fingers into the snow and stopped myself. Shew! Close call. Climbed back up and needed a breather for a second. Reached a high point to take a break and realized I had cell signal, but not much battery. Gave my Mom a call to check and her and was happy to hear that she was home, but still having problems with getting her levels back to normal. My phone died, but luckily I will get to call again tomorrow in town. We passed many day hikers with some smiling faces as they enjoyed the scenery and sunshine. We came across a nice lake, Frog Lake, and I couldn't resist taking a dip. Chilly but refreshing. We were not in El Dorado National Forest and passed some Information Center Volunteers who shared some of their juicy watermelon. Yum! Came into a nice, green meadow and checked out a cool historic cabin. Talked with Kiwi again, as the vampires feasted on us , so we rushed along to camp. Watched the sun set by the lake and quickly jumped in the tent to avoid providing additional feasting. Cheesy rice burritos for dinner. Town tomorrow! Excited to relax and bit and talk to family. -KB

Wolf Creek - Pleasant Valley Creek 7/19/10 21.6 miles

Got a good start on the morning feeling pretty god after our long day yesterday. Had tow climbs before break and we were happy to get them out of the way. They were actually the easiest ones of the whole day. Kristi said she wanted to do 14 miles before lunch. I agreed. I had a bit of an upset stomach, but after a couple of stops, it settled down. We made it 13 miles before 2pm and decided to eat. We walked through some constantly changing scenery with lots more flowers and high rocky cliffs. It almost looks Grand Canyon-like, but the rocks look like they have been glued together with cement. It's some type of volcanic creation. WE pushed another six miles before our next break. WE met Flashback. He had already done 25 miles by 6pm. We planned to do five more miles, but had heard the mosquitoes became horrendous. We ended up doing about three more to camp. The mosquitoes were bad here too, but we got set up and had dinner in the tent again. Planing for a long day tomorrow too. It feels good to be doing/able to do more miles, but it still make you tired. -Cm

Sonora Pass - Wolf Creek 7/18/10 23 miles

Waking up this morning was bit of a challenge. Three zeros in a row with a little wine on top makes on e a little lazy. We got going and out by 8am. IT was a slow morning. We walked up hill for quite some time and reconditioned ourselves. We had a break at a nice overlook and munched down on some spicy peanuts, trail mix and chocolate that Mary had sent us (thanks Mary!) We continued on, having some random discussion about hobbies and music that had been stuck in our heads. I thought a lot about my mom today, hoping that she did get discharged from the hospital and that she was feeling better. Very anxious to talk with her. The trail was nice today, sandy and easy o the feet. The views are changing from tall, sharp, snow mountains to sandy, rounded, rocky ones. Again, this trail keeps us on our toes with the rapid change in scenery. WE walked through meadows of gorgeous wild flowers-yellows, purples ,greens, oranges, reds and pinks. WE walked into nice shaded forests with lots of old trees. Beautiful day, blue sky. -KB

Bridgeport - Sonora Pass 7/17/10 0.4 miles

What a day. we got to sleep in until check out. Kristi got news from her Mom tat she would be getting out of the hospital soon and needed no dialysis. WE were so relieved! Went to the library to finish up our blog and to do a little budgeting. Finished up there and went to Pop's one last time. WE sat and made some final phone calls. We got ice cream before we started hitching and sat in the heat for about 45 minutes. Again, a guy came from the wrong direction, stopped and said he would be back in five minutes to pick us up. Sweet! He came back, he had to stop and pick up some of his favorite beer. HE had been skiing on Sonora Pass earlier in the day. Super nice guy, Mike. He had worked for the forest service for 20 years, so we had tons to talk about. We got to the trail and he gave us a couple beers and his card. He wished us luck and told us to call if we needed anything. Met a day hiker, Andrew while we drank our beers before we got started. He gave us some great advice. WE finally got started hiking at about 4:30pm. We got about .2 miles and saw a sign that said "BBQ" made from rocks and an arrow pointing towards the campground. Wow! We just came from town, had a great ride and not this! Lisa Freathy, from Napa, was doing trail magic. She was planning to hike next year. Here's the list of food she had for everyone today: hotdogs, burgers, chips, guacamole, salad, five types of great cheeses, coolers of beer, case of great wine, basket of fruit and the biggest box of doughnuts ever! WE hung out there till dark and had tons of fun. Got a little buzz and a whole lot of full on food, again. WE met some new hikers, Brazil Nut, Foxtrot, Little Bit and Kiwi. We decided we had to get out of there or we would never leave. They were cooking breakfast in the morning too. WE walked .2 more more to resist the temptations of breakfast. We drank our to go cups of wine as we watched the sunset. We had a great day, not much hiking but alot of good, people, good news and good times. -CM

Bridgeport 7/16/10 Zero day

Today wouldn't actually be considered a relaxing zero day. WE had initially planned on leaving today, hoping to only stay one night in each town we stopped to resupply, in order to save money and continue gaining mileage on the trail. After hearing that my supposedly healthy Mom was in acute renal failure, our present and future plans were now on hold. She was currently in ICU with 13% kidney function in both kidneys, with no answers. I talked to her and she said that she was feeling much better, but her condition was very serious. She did not know what was going to happen. Dialysis had been mentioned to her as an option, but still no definite answers until lab tests come back tomorrow morning. Being so far away was really hard. I wish I could be there right now. This was just such an out of the blue occurrence, being that she had had no prior health concerns. Chris and I decided to stay in town again tonight to wait and find out the lab results in the a.m. I talked to family and friends on and off throughout the day, discussing her condition and seeking advice on what I should do. Did I need to go home not, wait until the morning, or what? I decided to wait to acquire the lab results and go from there. Chris and I went to the library and I mostly researched her condition so I wouldn't feel so in the dark. I wrote info on some note cards and researched dialysis to better understand the procedure. I felt better to know more, but it was scary. I talked to my Mom and she said that she was feeling better, but I was still worried sick. On top of this, I was informed that my grandma had to be taken to ER. My cousin was driving in from W. VA to help out and my aunt was doing everything she could for the two of them. Things seemed to be falling apart back home and there was nothing I could do but just sit and wait for updates. Chris and I both remained quiet throughout most of the day. We were both floating, thinking of what we could/should do. He was so supportive as always and gladly agreed to do whatever we needed to do. He told me his ideas on getting home and how we could start over from there. In my mind, I was prepared to head back tomorrow and be there for my mom and grandma. -KB

Sardine Creek - Bridgeport 7/15/10 0.5 miles

Woke up about 6:30am to get to the road at Sonora Pass early hoping to catch some commuters. It was a 31 mile hitch into town. We sat for about an hour. Rick and Julie were there too. A blue Geo Metro pulled up going the wrong way. He turned around and took us all the way nto town. As we were leading up, a truck picked up our friends. "Geeps", our ride, had been hiking, but the trail he was on had river crossing that were too high to do solo. We picked up another hiker on the way down. He then turned around and took two more back to the top. Sixty miles totally out of his way. Got into town, went to the post office and got Mary's awesome box. It had all kinds of toys in it and two magazines for us. Got our room with a beautiful yard at the Silver Maple. Got our laundry and ate lunch at Pop's Gallery. Kristi got some bad news about her Mom and had us both worried for the rest of the day trying to figure out if she would be okay and if we needed to make plans to come home. We went to the library and relaxed some. I drank sic airplane bottles, compliments of Mary, and we had dinner at the Sportsman's Pub. We made many more phone calls and slept well in our cozy hotel room. -CM