Bites, Sweat and Tears

We left Echo Lake Wednesday morning. The same awesome Trail Angel that picked us up on that rainy Monday got up early to take a few of us hikers back to where we left off. The skies were blue again,  but the trail was still plenty wet in places.  There were streams of water coming down the trail. We tried avoiding the water, but soon enough our feet were wet. We headed up to Dicks Pass where we found 6 or so other hikers resting in the sun and airing out their wet gear (they had braved the rain the day before), so we joined them for a bit to dry out our shoes.

After the Pass, we descended to mosquito hell! I am sooo glad I have my bug net. I sure don't look stylish, but it helps keep the bugs away from my face and therefore keeps me sane. We had hours throughout some days where they were so bad we just didn't rest until we hit a spot well above treeline or in a light breeze; they definitely dictated where we took our breaks. Once at camp for the night, we would quickly put up the tent and immediately get in. In the last couple of days the mosquitos have joined forces with the bees and flies, we have had all 3 annoying bugs to contend with.

The heat has also come back strong and it feels like the desert all over again. I am sweating profusely and with the mix of sweat, dirt, sunscreen and deet on me, you can imagine how sticky and nasty I feel after this 5 day section.

We also experienced some tears (not literally) when we hit Donner Pass on our 3rd day out in hopes that the Donner Ski Ranch restaurant was open. Rumor had it this place was open Fri-Sun and gave PCT hikers 40oz of beer for free!! Yes, this was great motivation for Brownie, Katie, and I to get to the Pass, but sadly when we arrived they were not open for the hikimg season. :-(  Thoughts of salad, Reuben and beer in my head were quickly erased. We decided to push on and at least try to make it to one of the few huts on the trail, the PeterGrubb hut. Low and behold, to our dismay the hut was also closed for repairs! Ugh, defeated again. We instead camped near it and the mosquito infested Meadow.

The good news is that we caught back up with Gumby and Double-It on our last day hiking into town and we are now at mile 1198 in Sierra City. We are staying at the very hiker-friendly Red Moose Inn. These are trail angels who purchased an Inn complete with a small restaurant, bar and 2 hotel-style rooms for rent. To top it off, their living quarters are above it all. The Inn isn't officially open to the public, but they are open to hikers. They let us shower for free, do laundry for free and camp for free in their backyard. Tonight they cooked up all-you-can-eat bbq ribs and there were about 10 of us hikers partaking. Alas, I was able to have the beer I had been dreaming about!

Now that the chores are mostly done, the plan is to sleep in (wake up with the sun), have breakfast, go shopping for our next 5 day stretch to Belden and eventually head back to the trail this afternoon for a "nero" (hiker term for a partial day of hiking).

Trail stats after 74 days:
# snakes: still 18
# bears: still just 1
# pushups: sadly only 480
# showers: 14
# loads laundry: 11
# nights indoor: 11
# days rain: 3

I have included a bunch of pics below of this last 5 day stretch and have labeled each pic here (for some reason these don't show up in the order they are taken).
-Wildflowers on trail day 4
-Heading up towards Dicks Pass
-Hikers on Dicks Pass
-Beer selection at Red Moose Inn
-Scenery, Day 3
-Echo Lake Resort (where we waited out the rain earlier)
-me at Red Moose Inn (Sierra City)
-Aloha Lake, Day 1
-PCTers enjoying beers at Red Moose
-Scenery
-Lake Tahoe in background
-Squaw Valley ski resort
-Random sign by trail