I worried all through the night about the climb out of Sierra City. In the morning, we got our stuff together, and went to get breakfast at the Red Moose Cafe, behind which we have tented last night. Almost everyone inside was a hiker, and we got a table, and both had the eggs breakfast with no meat. It took a long time for the scrambled eggs and two toasts to appear…

View from the climb up from Sierra City
View from the climb up from Sierra City

In the mean time, we met Big Boots, who have just come into town. He planned to spend a few hours there, and head out today. Maybe he will catch us some day soon. We also saw Zen Dawg, just when we started trying to hitch back to the trail. He might also head out today.

It took us a while, but we finally got a ride up, and started our hike at about 9:00. Not too bad to start that early when coming out of town.

The trail immediately began to climb, and it kept at it for the next 8 miles. Half of it was above trees, and under scorching sun. It was no fun. Even after the big first climb of the day, we still had plenty of climbing to do today. A total of 4400 feet of climb. Not fun indeed.

We saw some day hikers and bikers at around Packer Lake Saddle, but nobody offered us any sodas. We pushed through anyway.

A big deer on the trail, right by where we camped for the night
A big deer on the trail, right by where we camped for the night

At the end of the day, I reached the sign to the water source, and couldn’t see Idan. I went ahead a bit, and tried calling him. Then I remembered he was low on water, so he was probably over at the spring. Coming back, I was relieved to see his backpack near the trail, where I haven’t looked before. I did find him at the nice piped spring on the side trail, and we filled up some water there. I might go over there tomorrow morning to get a bit more before heading on.