Day 91 - Quincy to Little Haven

Getting out of towns is always hard. Even getting up in the morning, from that comfortable bed, is hard. But I managed to drag myself up, eat some yogurt and a banana, and get my gear in my backpack.
Hitching out of Quincy wasn't easy as well. After a while, a car pulled over and took me only about a mile, to the hospital. Over there I tried hitching for a long while. The caretaker of the campground up near Bucks Summit (my hitching destination) pulled over and said he'd be back in about an hour, and pick me up if I'm still around. Luckily, I managed to get a ride before that.
The ride I got was with a Mercedes (!). It was an old car, though. It slowed down, and then pulled over some distance from me. When I tried to figure out if it was really stopping for me, and started walking towards it, it pulled off again. But then it turned around, and got back for me. So that was good.
I was picked up by a lady and a young girl. When they heard I was from Israel they told me the girl studied Hebrew in school for several years. She understood some of my Hebrew as well. The lady driving the car had volunteered in kibbutz Hatzerim a long time ago, and also remembered some words in Hebrew.
They really drove out of their way to get me to the summit, which was about twice the distance they planned on going. The car had other plans, and had a really hard time on some of those climbs. But we got to the summit at the end.
Up there, I met Kermit and Jeannie Bug again, just as Trail Candy was heading out into the trail. I got a tangerine, thanked them for their magic again, and also headed north.
Just before I started hiking, Banana Boat passed by in a car, looking for Trail Candy. I carried her message for him, that she is behind, and might come over to the Brattens (our destination for the day), and told him when I passed him a bit later.

View towards Silver Lake

The hike was rather easy, most of the day. Some small climbs, and a big big hike down at the end. I passed Lingo, Sugar Pine and Ticket Llama, and another hiker I didn't catch his trail name.

A nice day to be outside

The big climb we have in store tomorrow

A bit after passing them, I almost stepped on a rattlesnake. I thought we were over with the snakes a long time ago. I took some steps back, and waited for him to stop rattling. The other hikers caught up, and we waited together, trying to prod it, to make it go away. At the end it moved, and we sprinted over the spot where he had been.

The Rattler of north California

The rest of the climb down was uneventful, and I got to the Belden store and got an ice cream sandwich and a Gatorade. Trying to get to the hostel proved hard with no signs or direction, so I got back to the store, and met Hop Scotch, who just called the angels, and got us a ride there.

Going down towards Belden and the Feather River

Just a strange Panda graffiti in Belden

I met Idan over here, and got a room to place my mattress on a nice floor. There is no reception or Wi-Fi here, so I'm all disconnected. But at the moment I am playing scrabble with Stumbles and Rocket Llama.

Day 89 - campsite near PCT mile 1260.5 to Quincy

Today we had a short day into town. Shortly after heading out we crossed a nice spring at mile 1261.30. It wasn't in Halfmile's app, so that was a nice surprise.

Good spring at mile 1261.30

While filling out our water, Big Boots caught up to us. Apparently he was half a day behind us since Sierra City. But we were going into Quincy, and zeroing tomorrow, while he was heading on. So he will be ahead now. Until next time our paths cross.

Getting closer to Buck's Summit road

We made a quick stop at a water source 2 miles before the end of our day, and then headed out to finish it off. I passed a couple of south bound hikers, and the woman told me we have some "neat trail magic" waiting for us up ahead. That really made me hike faster.
When we finally got to the road, we met Kermit and Jeannie Bug. They were doing great and much needed trail magic. I got some sweetened ice tea, and hike made brownies, and we sat there for a while with Forty Five and Whiskey before catching a ride down to town.
The first car that passed by stopped for us, which is always nice. Our driver was a forest service fire fighter, of the "hot shots" team, which goes in on forest fires all over the country, hikes in to the fire's edge, and clear the trees around it so it won't spread. Sounds like a very hard and intense job.
Down in town, we stopped at the Subway and had subs, and later went over to compare prices at the two motels. We got a good deal in the Spanish Creek Model, for two nights. The room is really good - it has a full fridge, microwave, oven with stove. A really big room. With two queen beds.
We went over to the post office to get our bounce box and my new smartphone battery. The battery will arrive tomorrow.
Back at the room, I basically did nothing but shower, while Idan helped the motel's owner with his printer. It took him a while, and about three round trips to a store to get different ink cartridges. At least we got free laundry out of it.
Later we got a ride from the owner to the Safeway's. We got our resupplies, and called him for a ride back, like he said. But he couldn't come. We waited for the bus that never came, but suddenly his wife came over and picked us up anyway. They are very nice, indeed.

My hummus plate. The Thai wrap wasn't as photogenic.

Later, we went out for dinner at Pangaea. I had hummus for a starter, which came with artichoke and balsamic oil, and some Thai wrap for entree. That was really filling. Idan really enjoyed his burger, even though they didn't have any fries.