Day 66

June 17, 2021 PCT Mile 1138.6 to 1155.8

PCT miles today - 17.2

So close to home (Nevada City)! We made great time on our hike/run to Donner Summit through more spectacular fields of seemingly endless wildflowers. Chris took many flower pictures, but they just don’t show the beauty and wonderful feeling of hiking through fields of wildflowers - Wizard of Oz! It’s magical.

Road walked about 0.5 miles down old Hwy 40 to get some lunch at Donner Ski Ranch. Rick had a giant plate of nachos and ate every, single bite. Met our ride and were so very happy to see our dog, Willow.

We then made a pit stop in Truckee to drop our tent at a great equipment repair shop (Technical Equipment Cleaners) to have a zipper fixed. Highly recommend - tent was ready the following day and didn’t charge us anything. Wow.

Arrived home and will spend a few days dealing with home issues and packing resupply for the remainder of trail. It’s hot here - for the last two weeks we’ve been in snowy, cold mountain areas. Big change. Weather forecast is 100+ degrees in the Northern California section we hike next. August temperatures in June. Not fun for any hiker, so we may try night hiking and find a place to cool off during mid-day heat. Nice to be home, but we are anxious to get back on trail.

What to do - what to do. We sit here waiting for the current massive heat wave to end, but risk exposing ourselves to typical, expected July heat and forest fires. Rick’s new motto: when all else fails - eat!