Day 69, the Sierra Buttes

6/26
Daily mileage: 25.5
Mile: 1201.6-1227.1

Lay in my sleeping bag hiding from the cold this morning. Finally sucked it up, packed and started walking. When I thought to look at my watch it said 34 degrees, but TW said that when we first left it was 30. No wonder it felt cold! At least there was only a bit of a breeze and not full on wind like last night. Up the trail climbed, switchbacks of shale with an awesome view of the valley to enjoy.


And then it became the land of dirt roads, some old, some clearly in use, but none very trail like. Nothing like standing at a trailhead parking lot and not being able to find the trail. Yes I see the trail going southbound, I came in on it, but where is northbound? Walking in circles and calling the PCT like a lost dog while slightly crazy, is a great conversation starter with day hikers. Turns out the PCT is actually the paved road leading to the trailhead, how silly of me to expect a trail. No worries, TW had done the same but managed to make friends with a mountain biker from Truckee and got us both some hot coffee. We finally wandered off in search of some more trail like trail and found caveman and cheese whiz waiting because they thought we were lost. And so started the day of ridiculously long breaks at every pretty view. I love rounding a corner to find everyone staring off at lakes and mountains.

We were on the backside of that this morning.














We've heard a lot of hikers totally discount northern California. We hear a lot of, well now that the high sierras are over we just have to get to Canada. Umm okay, but this is pretty awesome as far as I'm concerned.





Look, you can still see where we came from this morning :)





Siesta with a view and then up and over another mountain. Still going slow, stopping at views. This section has had a very laid back feel so far. Finally after our last break I felt a little more motivated and somehow was the first to camp. Camping in the forest, with the sounds of a creek nearby. Good job Northern California.

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