Sierra City - Sierra Buttes Trail 7/28/10 7 miles

We slept in this morning (7am woo hoo) and it felt great! Did I mention that waking up clean felt great?! We got semi-packed up and headed into the restaurant for breakfast. There were several hikers sitting around the bar eating. Ahhh, the aroma of freshly cooked breakfast (other than oatmeal and pop tarts) smelled fantastic! We ordered eggs and bacon AND all-you-can-eat pancakes! So delicious! Margaret kept the pancakes coming until we were finished. On a nice full belly we finished up our laundry, made phone calls home and used the internet for quite some time- all compliments of Bill and Margaret. Chris called Sierra Trading Post and explained the problems with his shoes. They agreed to allow him to ship them back and reimburse him for them! He's really getting good at this stuff! First my pack and now free shoes! We then picked out some new ones for the both of us and he arranged to have them shipped to Buck's Lake, about 60 miles up the trail. We were thrilled to be getting new ones! My $35 TJ Maxx special Sauconey's held up well for the money, for almost 600 miles, but it was time to allow them to rest. We then picked up our AMAZING box from Kara and Don at the P.O. She had us all sorts of special goodies and even a CARTON of red wine and some brownies! We couldn't wait to break into this! We sorted through our food and had some extra, so we gave a few things to Bacon and Meander, since they were a little short. Next, we headed to the General Store before we headed out. We had heard about their enormous Deli Sandwiches and had to try them out. Before leaving, ice cream was a must. We sat out on the cozy, covered front porch surrounded by wild flowers, ate our pint of Cherry Garcia and chatted with an older local man. It was now about 3:30pm and time to get back to walking. We said our goodbyes to the hikers and Margaret at the Red Moose. She insisted on giving us a ride back up to the trail. We couldn't resist. This lady and her husband Bill are truly angels and we can't thank them enough for their hospitality and generosity. I hope to keep in touch with hem. Once again, I feel so blessed to be able to meet people like Bill and Margaret. Their gratitude towards us and others will certainly go a long way. The hike up the mountain was relatively steep, rocky and very sweaty. We were glad we waited until the evening to get started. We arrived at the top around 7:30pm, as we anxiously set up camp with hopes to get started on the wine : ) We watched a gorgeous sunset across the mountain range, with a bright orange shadow all across as it set. The best yet! The wine went down just right as we both had some good laughs over dinner. I feel so refreshed to have met some amazing people, relate with some fellow hiker friends and to have had some more good times and laughs. It doesn't get much better than this. I truly love this place. -KB