Day 91

Campsite to pack saddle campground - 20.2 miles

Total - 1208.4 miles

Last night Rocklicker got in late when we were all asleep. When I mean late I mean like 8:15 but I was so eepy and so full from my two dinners that I needed to be asleep. Two others also came in which Caleb swore it was presto and I said it wasn’t and guess who was right? Like always it was me. Caleb and I hit the road early and rocklicker was probably 15 minutes behind us. I needed to get into Sierra city for a package as it had limited hours so we booked it for the first 11 miles. About 5 miles in I had to take a shit so I pulled off to the side and shit one of my biggest shits on trail. That’s what 5000 calories will do to ya. I felt so much lighter. I got moving again and it was pretty much all downhill till the road wirh an occasional small up. The terrain was gorgeous as we walked through trees and crossed bridges with flowing creeks surrounded by greenery. We did walk through some logging areas which Caleb was astounded by which was a lil confusing to me as I am so used to it because oregon and Washington are heavily logged. At one point he made a comment that it’s almost worse that they kept some trees up and I quickly responded wait until we walk through an area with no trees. Sure enough we did and it was bad. It’s amazing how much shit they leave on the ground from branches to full logs. Anyways, we were booking it down the mountain when swarms of knats followed us which was so incredibly brutal for my mental health lol. I was going insane with fury. I was swinging my poles so I wouldn’t see those stupid fucks in my peripheral. Finally we made it to the road after crossing one last river and I accidentally took us down the wrong side path and had to backtrack. That’s where we parted as I walked down the road to hopefully get a hitch while Caleb tackled the climb. I had walked about 0.5 when a trail angel driving a couple other hikers to trail slowed and told me he would pick me up on the way back! So I officially got my first solo hitch (sorry mom and dad) but it was only a mile hitch into town. I mentioned I was getting right back on trail and he offered to drive me as he owned the hotel and normally gives rides to hikers. He gave me a lil tour of the very very small town of Sierra city before dropping me off. I went to the county store to check if they had the package but they didn’t as the post office did. I did buy myself an apple and a peach which was probably the best things I put in my mouth omg. The peach was so juicy and the apple hit the spot. I then grabbed my package from the post office and started reorganizing. So much food and my pack was so heavy but I did ask for 6 days so mom fucking nailed it. Doesn’t mean I won’t complain about how heavy it was. I found the guy to drive me back with another guy named blackbird. This was my first hero! A hero is when you head into town, do all your chores or whatever you need to get done and then get back on trail the same day. We have always at least spent a night in town so this was a change up. Plus I was hella efficient, only being in town for about an hour. As we pulled up to the trailhead, Rocklicker was sitting there chilling and mucking some food. Talked a lil and then I got started on the 8 miles up hill with 3k worth of elevation gain. Truly it wasn’t bad because the grade was just perfect but it was so fucking hot. The high today was supposed to be around 90 and the first part of the climb was luckily in the trees but that quickly changed into exposed hot cliff side. Rocklicker passed me early on despite starting 5 minutes behind but after we got about halfway into the exposed I caught back up and we chatted for awhile while dying of thirst and heat stroke. Everytime the wind would come I would savor the glorious thing. We took a small break at the stream before I got a text from Caleb that he was chilling at the next water source so we got moving. Rocklicker led the way while I trailed behind. We eventually got to Caleb who looked so peaceful in a lawn chair reading his kindle. He had been there for 2 hours before we showed up. We chilled for a lil before getting a move on as the campsite we chose was a public paid one and as it’s the weekend it could fill up fast. My knee started to hurt so I was taking it slow before Caleb showed up and told me to put a lil pep in my step which did get me moving and allowed the knee to not hurt as much for some odd reason. We pulled up to the campsite and there was a big crew of trail maintenance guys who organized an event and had rented out the entire campsite but luckily they gave us one for free. Immediately Caleb and I went to the spigot as we heard it was ice cold and all I wanted was an ice cold bev of anything. Caleb washed and moaned and groaned as I pumped the spigot as it was ice ice ice ice cold. It was the best water I’ve tasted in sooooooooo long. Rocklicker eventually pulled up not too long after us and stated that Ben from Boston had hitched a ride here. Apparently he had woke up and left around 10:30 and got to the road before the climb around 2 when a guy offered him a ride which he took to hitch to our campsite. Obviously we were peeved as everyone was soaked head to toe with salty sweat. We chirped him for a good while but he got revenge as he said he got sausages and cold bevs from an unsuspecting trail angel. I was drooling just thinking about it. So we went a lil harder on the chirping after that to get our revenge lol. He took it with stride so I gotta give to him. We then headed to the lake to wash off all our sweat. The fish were munching on Rocklickers and Caleb’s toes, eating all their dead skin. I would absolutely not let that happen as I am scared of fish eating my dead skin or just munching on me in general. It felt so nice to be somewhat clean only to put on my stank ass clothes again. It’s bad this time around too as my pants are the dirtiest they have ever been. I got salt, dirt, bugs, food plastered all over them to create the perfect mosaic of true hiker trash. We headed back down and was greeted with two burgers from the guy that gave Ben from Boston sausages earlier with a nice cold bev as well. It was the best half burger I’ve ever eaten as he put jalapeño on the burger with tomato, ketchup, and mayo. Omg. I could eat 4 more of them. We then cooked dinner and chit chatted as usual before I was so eepy and had to go to bed. Except the campsite is a lil loud so as I’m writing this I keep getting distracted with talking to the guys and also the noises surrounding me. It is also so hot. Imma be sweating all night. Not looking forward to it at all but I will report back tomorrow morning if I developed swamp ass or not. Probably will.