What a great day! We started off by hiking up on the ridge for several miles, enjoying the nice views around. After a while, the trail went down to Five Lakes Creek campsite, where we filled up some water and met Raspberry. He was going to meet his wife and head off trail for a few days, when he gets down to Donner Pass. Lucky him.

Walking below the ridge, under Ward Peak
Walking below the ridge, under Ward Peak

From there, we started our climb up to near some ski lift, and then down again to the next water sources. From the last water source we had about 13 miles until the road, so we filled up again, and left for the final section of the day. We had another bit of a climb, up towards Tinker Knob, and from there we had some more great views, and a very nice ridge walk. Another little climb later, and we were near Mt. Judah, and started to see some day hikers coming up from the highway parking area.

View from Tinker Knob
View from Tinker Knob

The hike down to the road was steep and rocky, but we could smell town, so we just went down without pausing.

Down at the partying area we were immediately approached by a guy asking us of we were thru hikers. After responding that we were, we got a soda and a beer. We were wondering how hard it would be to hitch from there down to Truckee, but Reno Dave said he’d be leaving in half an hour, and we would be welcomed to ride with him to Truckee. After a very nice chat with Reno Dave, both at the Donner Pass parking area and in his car, we got dropped off at the Truckee Safeway. We bought some supplies for the next, 2 day, section, in between a TON of people. Maybe they were getting ready for their 4th of July celebrations tomorrow. By the time I got out, Idan was already sitting with Greg, Half of our local trail angels, who came to pick us up over to their house.

At their house I got my new pair of hiking shoes. Janet really helped me a lot with getting the package, as we couldn’t get here before the post office closes, and tomorrow it’ll be closed all day. So she picked up the package for me. The shoes themselves are the same model as the old pair, only a bit wider. I hope I won’t get any blisters.

<span>The old pair of shoes vs the new one</span>
The old pair of shoes vs the new one

After getting here, I got settled in one of Greg and Janet’s boys’ room, and Idan got a futon at the ground floor. We got showered and did our laundry, and then headed out to the Village Pizza, to meet Janet and Ann, the third half of our trail angels, who met us yesterday up at Barker Pass and had set us up with Greg and Janet. Janet and Ann just came back from a 10 mile hike near Echo Lake. They go out hiking almost every day. It must be so fun to live so chose to such great hiking trails. The dinner was very nice. We all had a great conversation about trail topics and some other stuff as well. I had very good stuffed shells with spinach and artichoke, and we all had a great time.

<span>Greg, Janet, Ann, Idan and I</span>
Greg, Janet, Ann, Idan and I

Coming back to the house, Janet told me about all the stuff she had learned in order to be a Search Rescue volunteer. It’s all very impressive. I wish I could learn half of that stuff, and put it to good use.