Day 76 - wacs1028 to Markleeville

What a surprising day. We got rained on during half of it.
It all started in the night. It's fun to wake up in the tent and hear rain drops on the tent walls. But in the morning we got up to some drizzle and fog.
Just a bit after we started hiking, the rain started for real. It wasn't any hard rain, but it didn't stop for several hours, and it got a bit cold as well. It was fairly miserable. I kept trying to tell Idan that this is how it will probably be in Washington, At least some of the time, But Idan really suffered, and even wanted to stop mid day to just sit out the rain in our tents. And that's in a day we were planning to hike 22 miles.
We met Blush and Tea Popping along the way, and Blush told us about some campground that is supposedly right next to the road we were trying to reach. I don't know where she got that information, because it's not really there... Maybe she got mixed up with another trail head.
Idan suddenly recalled a small comment in Yogi's book about hitching into a small town called Markleeville, from the same highway. That seemed like a better plan.

A bit of trail, after the rain

About mid day the rain stopped. Right after we had our lunch break and I finished all my snacks for the day at once. A bit later it also started to clear a bit, and we actually saw some sunshine from time to time.
In total we climbed a lot today, but it felt easier than before. Maybe it was the rain and the cold, that kept minds occupied on other things than the climbs. But after a long day, we finally reached or destination at highway 4 just before 17:00.

Nice trees on the trail

The highway seemed deserted, and I was afraid we won't get a hitch. I was trying to fill my water bottle, and managed to lose it in the stream, just as Idan got the first car to stop. We got the luckiest hitch ever,
A very nice couple took us down to town. They are from Massachusetts, and travelling by car along California. They dropped us right in Markleeville, and we started looking for a room for the night.
The first place was full, but the bartender at the nearby restaurant was very helpful in finding the next motel's owner. We also got help from other bar patrons, and everyone were very friendly and nice.
We also met Neon, who got here earlier today. He is from Colorado, and we briefly met him before at Tuolumne store. We sat with him after dinner, and invited him over to sleep in our room.We got a great room at the nearby "Toll Station", at a great price. Sandie, the owner, did our laundry, let us dry our tents in the back and gave us beers.

A really nice little motel along the trail

In the room, we managed to get the TV working, by setting the dish remote control to operate it. I suspect it didn't work well for a long time now. Right now there's "Django Unchained" on TV, and it's way too late for us hikers to still be awake.

Neon and Idan, in our room

Day 75 - Bridgeport to wacs1028

We did the unbelievable, and left a trail town on the afternoon, despite being tempted to lay around in an over priced motel room for another day.

Our hotel room in Bridgeport

After a good night's sleep, I went to have breakfast with Zen Dawg and Curry. Curry was sleeping inside the main building, in an economy room, which only has a bad. She didn't get any cell service in town, had no phone in her room, and the hotel is closed and locked on Wednesdays until the afternoon. We were staying in the rooms outside the main building, so we had no way of calling her to come for breakfast. Luckily, she came outside on her own at 7:30.
We went to a local diner called Hays something, which Zen Dawg recommended from his experience yesterday. I had a very good vegetable omelet with hash browns. It was nice, being with only vegetarians and vegans. And liberals. The conversation was very interesting. During that time Idan shipped our loaner bear canisters back to Kennedy Meadows. It felt good to get rid of them.
Zen Dawg and Curry were talking about leaving town later, to do a short hiking day. They called Rock Ocean, who was already in town, waiting until the post office opens at 11:00 for some hikers, before making a shuttle run up to the trail.
Zen Dawg wanted a bit more time in town, and then we decided we were rested enough to head out ourselves. So we talked with Rock Ocean to get a later ride at around 14:00, and Curry left at the earlier ride.
Our hotel check out time was 11:00, but the maid agreed to come clean our room last, so we stayed there until the last minute before getting on our ride. That was very comfortable.
I bought some supplies and a had package for the next section, and got a veggie burger from The Barn (they make it themselves, it's not some frozen patty) to carry out for dinner tonight.
After a long long ride back up to Sonora Pass, we finally said or goodbyes to Rock Ocean, and headed out into the mountains at 16:00. A bit later than planned.

Rock Ocean, after giving a ride back up to Sonora Pass

At first, we had a long climb out of the pass. It was pretty windy all along, and even after going over the saddle, the strong gusts of wind persisted. But from there we had a long descent, and it got warm and calm. It still took us about 3.5 hours to cover the almost 10 miles we were aiming at. But most of the time it was an easy hike.

Beginning to climb out of Sonora Pass, on the shoulders of Sonora Peak

We saw a single tent just before the campsite. I don't know who's tent it was. Over here, we found Curry, and Blush, Tea Popping and Moon Fish and her boyfriend. After setting up camp and eating (the burger held very nice), Zen Dawg also arrived.
I an sure tomorrow everyone will get up and leave before I exit the tent. But we plan a long day, so we will probably see them again later.

Day 74 - Cascade Creek to Bridgeport

We spent last night 2 minutes away from the 1,000 miles marker

Sonora Pass caught us with our pants down.
At the beginning of the day we had the normal downhill walk of the last few days. We passed Smuggles, Heat Wave and Lighthouse after several miles (they didn't end up sleeping 0.2 miles from us).
We were getting close to a different mountain range. The Sierras were all granite, but this one was not as rocky, and more brown. The second we crossed a creek over to the new terrain, the mosquitoes stopped. That was awesome.
We had a short, mosquito-less, break, and were joined by Lighthouse. I was surprised to learn he was Scottish. He doesn't have (what I thought would be) a Scottish accent. He did most the trail last year, and is here to finish up some small sections. He has to get to Tahoe, and then just finish the last 60 miles of the trail. Very impressive.
After several more miles we reached the last water source before Sonora Pass. We had another quick meal, and then started our climb. I thought we will get up the ridge, and then get down to the pass. I was wrong.
After a long, switch-backed, climb up, the trail just kept on climbing. There were some downhills as well. But it kept surprising us with more small climbs again and again.
Then came the show patches. It felt almost like we were in some high Sierra pass again. I thought we were over this.
At some point, we suddenly ran into a very sweet dog. He had his dog pack on, and he seemed lost. At first he kept climbing up the side of the trail, and barking for me to follow him. I thought that maybe his owner was in some trouble somewhere, so I followed him. But there was no one around. We decided we would take him down to the road with us, and try to find his owners there. Some beef jerky Idan had convinced the dog to follow us down the trail. We also found some dog food in his pack, and fed him and gave him water.
Luckily, about 5 minutes later we ran into his owner, who was looking for him. The dog got behind, and the owner hadn't noticed he got lost. Well, that ended well.

The cute trail dog, back with his owner

From there it was really almost all downhill, finally. Just as we were starting our descent we met Rock Ocean, who shuttle hikers around the trail. He just came up for a short hike, and told us that if we'd still be stuck without a ride down at the road, when he gets down, he'd take us to Bridgeport. That was a relief.

That's Sonora Pass down there

After a few more snow patches, and another short but very annoying climb, we finally got to the road. And couldn't get a ride.

Failing to get a ride down from Sonora Pass. Lurking behind us is Rock Ocean's sweet van, waiting for his return

Not long afterwards, Rock Ocean came down, and thankfully got us down the long road to town. I thought he was heading in there himself, but apparently he was going back up to pick up someone else later. So we paid him for gas, and got his number to try and arrange a ride back up in two days.
Down in town we were just starting to check out hotel prices, when suddenly Glimmer hailed us from across the street. She got a got a room with Zen Dawg, and they were looking to split it with more hikers. We got in their room and took a shower. Later, Blush and Tea Popping came around, and after some shuffling of rooms they split a room with Glimmer, and we remained with Zen Dawg.
I really enjoyed chating with him. He did the AT several years ago, and generally travels around the world for several months a year. He also told us that Asheville is the place to live in, in the US. Sounds like an awesome town indeed.

Having a veggie burrito dinner at the Burger Barn