Date: June 16, 2017
Miles: 1157 – 1168.5
Guess what we found in Truckee??
Right away from our starting point at I-80 we were in snow and it lasted all day. The rising temperatures in the area turned it all into a giant slushee, which made it hard to get a lot of miles in, but didn’t make it impassable by any means.
We stopped at the Peter Grubb ski hut for lunch, and learned that the cabin was built by the Sierra club in memory of Peter Grubb, a traveler and ski enthusiast who died in 1937 at the age of 18. It was a great little place to take a break.
After lunch we did some climbing and navigated up and down and around the big mounds of snow that accumulate in the forested parts of the trail until we reached a campsite, the only part of which that wasn’t covered by snow was the bridge over the adjacent river.
At that point, Roi, Matthew and I decided to to get a few more miles in so we said goodbye to John, who planned to sleep on the bridge. We told him to pass our farewell on to Connor and Katie, who were behind us a little ways because Katie wasn’t feeling very well. It felt somewhat that we were saying adios for good, but I knew that we would see them again so I refused to get sad about it.
We climbed uphill for a few more miles until we found a campsite with some dry patches in it. A hiker from Wales that we had met earlier in the day, Orca, camped with us and gave us the rest of his dinner. It was some fancy dehydrated mango chili from a resupply company, which made our ramen and instant potatoes look like pathetic excuses for nourishment. Which they actually are, but we’re cheap. My stomach was happier than usual by the time I hit the hay, and I fell asleep with the image of a lovely sunset behind my closed eyes.
