Day 84 – 7/4/15
Not far from Hwy 49
Miles – 8.2
Total Miles – 1249.4 (PCT 1195.8)
Our tents were wet when we got up due to condensation. Since we were in a very deep valley we would not get sun any time soon, so we packed it all wet and headed for town where we would dry our gear. We only had a few miles to go to get to Sierra City. We quickly reached the trail junction to the Wild Plum Campground. By this time, Logan was hiking with us and all five of us headed for the campground. We were hoping to find Sunny Side Up there. She was going to try and get a camp site for Over Easy. As we were walking through the campground, we stopped by a bathroom and Logan went on, but not very far. When we walked on, we found Logan at a campsite. A family of two boys and their parents called us over too. They had been hoping to see some thru-hikers. They were the Peachy family from San Francisco. Little Crow, Will, and Mama Raven grew very fond of their little black pug, named Pixie. They made us PJ sandwiches. Also, they gave us yogurt and cereal. Next they offered to drive us into town. All five of us eagerly said yes. We loaded everything into the back of their car and off we went with Pixie in Will and Little Crow’s lap. It was a short drive of three miles. Thru-hilkers are some of the laziest people you will meet. They do not want to walk any more than they have too. We said goodbye to the Peachys and headed to the store where our re-supply box was. We are lucky we sent our box to the store and not the post office because this is Saturday, July Fourth. The next time the post office will be open is Monday morning at 10:00am.
We sat down at the store and waited for 10:00 for it to open. Our box was inside, which is a good thing. Four other hikers have missing boxes and most have to wait until Monday for the PO to open to see if that is where their boxes are. I found power on the deck of the store and started to charge everything. When the store opened, we got drinks and our box and then headed across the street to a park, to sort it. I tried to call Kim to tell her we were here. My mom is in Reno and she would like to come and see us. The only problem is that there is no cell service. I asked around and no one has cell service. So I wrote an email and went to the store to send it. I got a connection but no data was going out. I checked with someone else who was trying the same thing and he was not having any success either. I asked in the store about the internet and found that a recent fire to the west destroyed ATT’s fiber optic lines and there was no internet. A short time later, while talking to C.C., I found out that she tried to use the land line and it would not call out. This town was totally cut off. There was no way to contact Kim, Danny, or mom. Our other problem was where to stay. All the hotels in Sierra City and the surrounding towns are all booked for the Fourth of July. The campground and RV park were filled. The last resort was the church that allows hikers to stay in their tents behind it, except for Sunday. It had row after row of tents, upwards of 20. Nobody wanted to go anywhere for the holiday. Some people hitchhiked to Truckee to see fireworks on Lake Tahoe. Therefore, our only real chose was to hike out of town.
As we did our box we were able to do a load of laundry at the RV park. We dried out tents and sleeping bags. Around 2:00, we went to have hamburgers. The store makes ½ pound and 1 pound hamburger called the Gut Burger. Will and Little Crow got the ½ pound and and Mama Raven and I split a 1 pound burger. We also got milkshakes. An hour later, we went back for ice cream, three different flavors of Ben and Jerry’s. Finally we were ready to head back to the trail. While we were waiting for our burgers, Sunny Side Up showed to wait for Overeasy to arrive. She offered to drive us back to the trail head. Again, we eagerly said yes to the ride offer and we all piled into her car and in a very short time, we were back at the campground. Sunny Side Up offered to call Kim when she got a connection tomorrow so I gave her the number and a message. I hope they get it. We said our good byes and hit the trail. We hiked our way back to the PCT and then went on to its junction with Hwy 49. The trail at this point goes right up the side of Sierra Butte with very few places to camp. We went up for about .5 miles and found a level place. We were uncertain if we kept going we would not find a place to camp on the steep hill sides. . . and this is where we are on Fourth of July 2015, on the side of a mountain just above the highway.

Hummingbird

Mrs. Peachy

Pixie Peachy

CC

Lord Logan and his breakfast