First week in North Cal

Zero in Tahoe

Lake Tahoe was a fun zero. I stayed in a hostel called Mellow Mountain. It was a fairly pleasant place. The first night was all hiker. There was a celebrity golf tournament in the city, so the next night was reserved with bars tenders from everywhere that came to the city to work in the tournament. I guess it’s one thing. I talked to a boy and he says that is all he does, he goes to events and the bar tends. He said that 85% of his concerts are golf events. And all the people of the shelter knew each other, so I guess the same concerts work. Who knew? Maybe a retirement concert? There was a small festival on the local beach, so I met other hikers there and we had a good time hanging out.

The next morning I took a walk from an angel on the path back to the path. It only went to about 14 miles. The path went through a lot of lakes that was pretty. There were many young backpackers in the lakes and spending the swimming and camping. It seemed something that I would have liked to do in the past. I camped in a good place in a lake. I went to swim at night, it was nice to be clean in the sleeping bag.

Beautiful Tahoe walk

Walked beyond several lakes

Beautiful Sierra Juniper Trees

It is not a good day

I got up and left the next day early, I wanted to put some miles. It wasn’t a good day. To start, the mosquitoes put me to get in when I left my tent and broke the camp. I like to think of these mosquitoes like zombies. The mosquitoes here are a bit slow, but once they find you, they swarm. Some of the zombies «The Walking Dead». If you keep moving, you can stay away from them, but they corner you and surpass you with numbers. Florida mosquitoes would look more like zombies «28 days later» or «I am legend», where they will come at full speed and tear you. The rest of the day struggled. There is not much landscape to look and it was hot as hell. Also many blown trees to pass. I drank a lot of water.

The worst moment of the day was a very sad event. I was walking along the path when I blushed a family of mom and chicks. They rose directly on my face and without thinking I lifted my hiking posts to protect me. When I accidentally hit one of the chicks in the air. I fell in front and it seemed that the strike broke its small neck. They adjusted for a couple of seconds and then wilt and closed their eyes sliding while I watched helplessly. I was already on the verge of heat delirium, it was just a surreal moment that I really didn’t need. The visual persecuted me for the rest of the day.

I’m going to start talking to myself

I finally entered the camp after about 23 miles. My back of my backpack hurt and I was quite exhausted. It was a long and horrible day and I was glad to finish. I really didn’t see anyone along the way all day, except some hikers that are not PCT that are in the other way. If I keep walking alone, I’m going to talk to myself, I told my wife. I got a good camp looking at the Tahoe Valley. I had a pair of cell signal bars, so I had to face my wife Sharon and watch some video until I could not keep my eyes open more.

I only had about 19 miles to do the next day, so I allowed myself to sleep a little. He left the camp shortly after 7:00. He had 3 great climbs to do, but the landscape was beautiful, so it didn’t seem as bad as he could have done. I walked a lot of the day, so I had a good breeze and views. He had a good cell signal called to the children and Sharon. I found a good camp on Tinker Mountain. He winded again but something protected this time.

Trash from hikers in Donner Ski Range

I had a brief walk the next day to the Donner ski ranch. It is a shelter/restaurant right next to the path. They rent bunk beds to quite cheap hikers, so I decided to treat myself. They have a fairly intelligent trick. They give PCT hikers a 40 Oz beer when they enter. What happens when you give a 40 oz beer to a dehydrated hiker? You get a hiker who is not going anywhere soon. So most stay all day and eat, which is what the ranch really wants you to do.

They have a large hiker box on the back where most hikers were hanging out. A hiker box is just a box of things that hikers show that other hikers can collect if necessary. It is mostly garbage and old shoes. Usually, quite unpleasant. There was a bag with a couple broken from the small donuts crushed there and this exciting girl picked up the bag and was looking at crushed donuts. I told him «I’ll give you a dollar if you eat one.» She only gave me a dead eyes and said «I don’t need a dollar» and put it in her mouth. It made me laugh. I looked at hikers in the area and we were all only a lot of hikers. What have we become? The girl Donut was probably a respected university educated girl before the walk torn her nothing more than a girl with thin, hairy and donating legs, eating donuts breaking garbage.

Dawn in my camp

Lunch with free beer of 40 oz in the Donner ski camp

We are all in the duodennes of the walk and all those who believe are fighting. You can detect hikers to a mile away now, see you dirty and a bit sad. Many people have abandoned for several reasons. In a fun note, I was telling other hikers the story about the girl in the donut at a water stop and how we all go to the hill. One of the girls there said: «That’s nothing, I ate one m & m peanut of the path that I found the other day.» Yes, there you have. And let’s not forget the smell we live with. My things permanently have a sweaty smell. The boy’s shoes in the bunk next to Donner Ski Ranch Stunk so bad that it almost made me die. But say what you want on the garbage of the hiker of us, we are the favored children of Mother Nature. We see and appreciate its beauty probably more than anyone. I was listening to a Tom Petty song the other day called Wildflower. The choir says «you belong among wild flowers, you belong to a boat in the sea. You belong to a place where you can be free.» Donut Girl, you belong among wild flowers.

Hiking with sun

Hiking to the city of Sierra

Donner Ranch left early the next day and met with a guy called Sunshine. He is from the state of Washington. He did not receive his path of path due to his sunny disposition. He got it because when he got on the camp after a hot and sunny day in the desert, he hit his posts on the floor, looked towards the sun and turned it. Ha ha. It was nice to have someone to talk and make the 23 miles pass quickly. I knew a lot about Oregon and Washington and I was excited to get there.

The next day I got into the city of Sierra after about 20 miles and reserved a bunk in the local Sierra Motel that was built in 1880. The city is beautiful with a population of approximately 200 people. The general store is a Blackberry and very friendly shake for hikers. I love coming to these little cities, they have a good charm for them. Community announcement boards are always interesting to read. One announced a festival that was approaching. It was a festival for health, fitness and rabbis. Haha, I guess it’s a problem here.

Beautiful waterfall in the city of Sierra

The General Store of the City of Sierra is an evil Blackberry shake

THE PLAN IN THE FUTURE

In the future, I have made the difficult decision to omit some of the burns areas in North Cal. Looking at my progress, I think that when I take free time in May for the birth of my granddaughter, I am not going to make the northern terminal at the end of September. Burning areas have many spills and growth, also very exposed and prone to the fall of trees. They are the areas burned by the fires of recent years. So, if I’m going to lose some areas, I think this is. I look at it as golf rules. If your ball lands in an area of repair, you can move your ball without penalty. The path in this area is under repair. He doesn’t need to collapse areas walking, looking, shitting and camping. I will travel to Quincy, where I will pick up a bus to Chester and start tomorrow morning.

Sierra City Hotel, built in 1880, was a good hanging

Typical burn area, this of the Tahoe Lake

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