4.9 miles - Total Miles to Date - 105.5
Ascent - 513’, Descent - 1159’ - Campsite at Miller Creek (1190.7) to Sierra City (1195.4)
Nero day!! Almost as good as a zero. I had to walk 5 miles down the PCT to the highway, then thumbed a ride for the 1.5 miles into Sierra City. Usually I worry about my odor when I get into a car that stops for me but this guy was rough in a logger sort of fashion so I doubt he noticed my aroma added over his. He had a chainsaw, oil and fuel in the back of his pickup so we discussed wood cutting for our short ride. He dropped me at the grocery store at 7:45am. Both the store and the Post Office were closed, so I walked up to the public bathrooms next to the Methodist church where I found Hip sitting at the picnic table. The right hand restroom had a shower, free and cold water only. No one was waiting so I jumped in. I took all my dirty clothes, soap, rain gear pants and a ditty bag and washed myself and my clothes.
I hung my clothes on the bike rack to dry and chatted with Hip and a new-to-me-hiker Double D. Derek showed up shortly and he availed himself of the shower. At 9:00 am we moved to the store. Earlier I had noticed the three plastic garbage cans had been spilled during the night so Derek and I picked up the pile of trash and cleaned up the area.
I chatted up the store owner. I had noticed It’s It ice cream wrappers in the trash I had been picking up and asked if he had any. He said yes, but some hiker had unplugged his freezer cases to plug in their phone and all the ice creams had melted and then refrozen. He said all the ice cream was free! Breakfast!! Each time I took a free ice cream I was sure to buy something as well, trying to support the store. He tried to give me my Gatorade for free because I picked up the trash, but I insisted I pay and thanked him.
The rest of the morning was hanging out on the “group W” bench with hikers, learning names and sharing backgrounds and telling stories with occasional trips into the store for more ice cream and drinks.
About noon Derek and I moved to the church lawn to pitch our tents in the shady spots before they were all taken. Then it was back to the rigors of a Nero day-sitting around talking and eating. Double D found someone had taken his resupply box, a bitter disappointment although he took it lightly and decided to buy enough food from the store to get him to Belden. I charged my battery and phone and sat in the shade, belly full of Gatoraide, Fritos and ice cream (oh, did I mention I ate an apple, too?).
The French couple that was arguing loudly as I passed by yesterday made it to town about 10:00 am. Gourmet was having another bad day. While we were sitting on the front porch of the store she stood and inquired about how to get to Reno. She was ready to quit. Her and her boyfriend were at odds with each other and finding it difficult to spend 24 hours a day together. As I mentioned earlier, she is a verbal thinker. This means we get quite a story. It did not come all at once. Later in the day as I sat with my back against the bathroom wall charging my devices she came up the hill and went into quite some detail about the shortcomings of her boyfriend and the tribulations of their relationship. She is not a quiet talker. Everyone within 60 ft gets included in the conversation. As it appears now, they will stay a night here in Sierra City waiting for a package, then hike to the next destination 70 miles up the trail and see if they can resolve their differences. If not, they will fly back to France.
City Girl, a beautiful German woman has shared her boyfriend woes with everyone on the trail. It appears her French boyfriend verbally listed off all the things wrong with her, then left her while they were traveling in the Middle East. Some of the faults included too fat, has a stupid job, can’t speak French and more. Everyone on the trail that knows her speaks to her about this situation. I got talking to her while she was waiting for the shower. She actually wrote down all the points he made and is working to change her life to “correct” these “faults”. On questioning her, she is not doing it to try to win him back, she just thinks he was probably right and wants to improve herself. She has lost 40 pounds, is taking French and is going to school to be a tutor.
Why did I include this in the blog? A couple reasons. One, it illustrates how close and trusting everyone on the trail becomes. They feel they can share personal details of their lives with people they have only known a few weeks or months, or in my case, a few minutes. Two, it highlights that there is drama on the trail. These are just regular people working through the difficulties of life. And, three, when I am old and feeble of mind rereading this will hopefully bring back memories of all the events that happened while I was in Sierra City.
It is 1.5 miles from the town to trail, uphill. It was about 85° this afternoon and I did not want to walk the road so I packed up about 4:15 pm and walked toward the trail thumbing for a ride. 5 minutes and about the fourth car to pass picked me up and dropped me at the trail head. I had seen a place to camp a couple hundred yards southbound on the trail on my way to town this morning. I found a flat pine needle covered spot, pitched my tent and crashed for the rest of the afternoon, conserving strength for the 3500’ climb tomorrow morning, hoping to avoid the heat of the day.
As I lay here resting, I feel a bit lonely for the first time. I left 35+ hikers in town and am camped by myself. I think the contrast between mass people interaction in town and isolation at my camp has made me feel separated. Before I knew so many hikers I did not feel alone. Now that I know they are back in town or heading out on the trail and I am here I feel a bit separated from the group. No worries though. Tomorrow on the trail I will see many again and throughout the rest of the journey to Oregon.
No comments:
Post a Comment