Barker Pass to Sierra City

Oh gosh, leaving Tim and Heather's house in Tahoe was almost impossibly hard. The quality time with family, especially new baby Blake! The hot tub! The fluffiest of beds! The cheese selection!! But leave we did.... we'd planned to leave around 10 am and didn't end up leaving until more like 5 pm. If you were a very hungry hiker and you'd tasted Heather's tomato, feta, and dill salad, you'd understand.

We hoped to get in 6-8 miles that evening. Unfortunately, at about 8:15pm, we walked past what (we later realized) was the last campsite for 3+ miles. For the first time this whole trip, we had to get out our headlamps to guide our footsteps as we kept wandering in search of a campsite. We finally got to a camp after 9 pm. On the plus side, we made it over 11 miles! Plus, there is something very special about walking as the sun is going down. The light is amazing, a feeling of quiet descends on the trail, and our shadows are impossibly long.

The next day we woke up early because we knew it was a special day.... In 17.5 miles, we'd get to Donner Pass - site of our engagement photos and more importantly home to DONNER SKI RANCH! DSR, loyal blog fans will remember, may be the greatest place on earth. It's a family-run ski resort with a bar and grill, and they give a free beer to each thru hiker who passes through. Breakfast Sandwich earned his name there, back in 2014. Well, DSR did not disappoint. This time, we were there on a Saturday and they had live music and locally made pies! We stayed for upwards of three hours, enjoying the food and good vibes, as well as cranking out a bunch of wedding logistics. Advice for people planning a wedding: don't combine it with w thru hike, unless you really love handling wedding logistics during your few minutes of down time every week.

We tore ourselves away from DSR at 7 pm, knowing (from experience, see: 2014) if we got another beer or piece of pie, we'd end up sleeping in their yard. Did two quick miles to a beautiful sandy spot overlooking a valley.

As a side note, our packs were incredible in this section! We ditched all our Sierra gear at Tim's - ice axe, crampons, bear cans, and extra layers - shedding about 5 lbs each in the process. Our packs felt light, spacious, and like they were giving us a loving embrace. It was a wonderful change from the previous 300 miles.

As another side note, let's talk for a second about trail etiquette. We passed a bunch of "city folk" around Tahoe who were so rude! If you're on a day hike, and you see backpackers coming, they get the right of way. If you are going downhill and other people are going uphill, they have the right of way. If someone steps aside and gestures for you to go ahead, the correct response is "thank you." If someone says "hey, how's it going?" the correct response is "great! It's a beautiful day out!" ...not to continue talking to your bro about the relocation of your tech startup to San Mateo and to ignore the friendly hikers who stepped off the trail to let you pass. Lots of friendly folks too, but we were shocked at the uptick in rudeness around the Tahoe area! Alright, rant over.

The next day was uneventful. We did a 30 mile day, only our 2nd 30-miler of the trip so far, but the trail was patient and forgiving (read: no snow, no navigation challenges, no washed out sections, not too steep, not too rocky). We got to camp before 7 and had a luxurious time sitting by the campfire, making smores, and enjoying each other's company. Just kidding. There's the summer California campfire ban in effect so no more fires, and the mosquitos were horrible. We just hung out and ate dinner in the tent. It was still pretty great.

And now we're in Sierra City!! We are getting married here in less than two weeks! It's great to be here. We've mentioned that we're getting married to a few folks and they've all responded "oh, we've heard about you guys, the hikers who are getting married in the community hall!" Love a small town. We put in our keg order at the general store and poked our heads in the reception venue. Good to check some things off the list! We'll hike north another 135 miles, then get off trail about a week before the wedding to go into final planning mode. Woooo!!!

No pictures in this section because the bandwidth is minuscule, but we'll try to add some later.