After a good night’s sleep in a real bed, I got up in the morning and arranged my gear. I remembered to take my cream cheese from the fridge, but I did not take the Ben Jerri’s I bought yesterday. I hope out will be put to good use.

View from Donner Pass towards Donner Lake
View from Donner Pass towards Donner Lake

Greg took us up to the trail, back on highway 40, at about 9:00. We said farewell, and headed to the trail. We had less than 4 miles between highway 40 and interstate 80, and we covered it quite quickly. After crossing under the interstate we stopped for our first break, which lasted a bit longer than usual.

And towards the old railway tunnel
And towards the old railway tunnel

We saw many day hikers climbing along the trail, mostly heading up to the Donner Lake Rim Trail, I guess. Maybe to see the fireworks tonight from since good location. I finally got in eBay and bought a new battery for my cell phone, along with the tools to open it and replace the current battery. I will get it in Quincy, in about 5 more days. Heading on, we climbed over Castle Pass, and then down to Peter Grubb Hut. I was expecting an Appalachian Trail like shelter, but it was a big, enclosed, hut, with two floors. It seemed like a very nice place to stop.

Just an interesting tree stump, shaped like a foot
Just an interesting tree stump, shaped like a foot

We met Chop Chop, Sugar and Prospector there, for the first time. They just left when we came, and I had my lunch, and leafed thorough the register. It’s funny, seeing people that were with us in Mammoth, that had passed here 10 days ago. Some hikers are really fast… We got some water from the stream by the hut, and headed on to the next marked water source. It took a while to get there, with several annoying climbs on the way, but we got there at the end. We had some more snacks and filled our water again, before going to the day’s destination - Meadow Lake Road. The app said there is a campsite with seasonal water nearby, so we were counting on it. The trail kept on climbing up and going down, but it was all in a nice forest, and later over a ridge line with good views around. Finally we reached the road quite early, just after 17:00. There is some water here, with a sign claiming there is another water source 0.3 miles down stream. We started going down there with just our empty bottles, but gave up after a short while, and filled up from a small trickle. The campsite itself is rather small, and I was worried that Chop Chop, Sugar and Prospector would not have enough room here, but they camped about 100 feet before our spot, at a different location.