Sierra City rest stop.

Well, we are back on the trail again after an unplanned rest stop in Sierra City.
We intended dropping into town, resupplying, & being back on the trail by lunchtime... But that didn't happen.
2 days after leaving Tahoe, Tom's new shoes had a blow-out... Well, the heel fell off of one of them. So we needed to get back to Reno to swap them out.
As always, our great trail-angel Stacie was there to give us a ride. A 4 hour round trip too, so we really appreciated her help.
Once the shoes were swapped, we got some shopping in the bigger city, then headed back to Sierra City... Well ' city' because lovely as it is, the population is just over 200.

Toms feet have been giving him some of the same sore blister problems I'd been suffering earlier, so we ended up deciding to spend the night camping at the church with some other thru-hikers, as well as provide some patronage to the great store there ( cold sodas... Aaah! ) & the bar, where a damn good BBQ chicken was on the menu.
This morning, feet rested & taped up to Egyptian mummy proportions, Tom & I hit the trail beginning with a 2500 ft climb out of the valley and up to the Sierra Buttes. From there we have mostly enjoyed fairly level ' ridge-running' ( not that we are running..) following the ridge-tops along through the pines.
Stopping for a short break just now, I took a few pix with my iPhone & used a great stitching app to create a panoramic of the view before me... Seeing as i also had a signal, i thought I'd get busy typing this too...So I hope it uploads & displays ok!
Catcha again soon.
RWK
Out.

The climb from Granite Chief.

GeoTagged, [N39.20313, E120.22071]

After a good nights sleep down at 5 Lakes Creek, we made our way up & over Granite Chief, dropped back down to a green valley, and have just made the second climb of the day to Tinkers Knob, & the junction along the Northern Ridge.
The views are great & the trail is pretty smooth, do we hope it keeps up as we head along this afternoon!
Onward!
RWK.
Out.

Ok, so a full signal was no surprise!

Yeah, that's a bloody great cell tower behind me... But still, good to be able to upload stuff for the readers out there...
Well, we are almost done for the day... 23 miles done. The Mosquitos were awful this morning as we packed up camp, & they stayed that way until almost lunchtime. Hiking in a headnet is hard work.., it not only restricts your vision, but I find it harder to breath too, so the morning was a bit rough. Thank goodness the trail was nicely graded and surfaced.
After a nice bug-free lunch by a cold stream, the afternoon was much better with a good breeze and although we had some climbs, they were all smooth & gradual.
Now we are about to drop down about 1000 ft over the next 2 miles to a creek, where we'll make camp for the night...
Catch y'all later!
Cheers.

RWK.

Full 3G signal in the mountains!

As you can see from the screen shot of my iPhone, even up here in the mountains, I have a full signal... So I can post an update! Sweet!!

Ice cold!

Well, whilst we are sat here taking 5 at the top of Dicks Pass, & I have a full phone signal, I might as well upload a few blog entries!
This is me thoroughly enjoying a freshly filtered ice cold mountain stream water bottle of Tang! TANGTASTIC!!
Cheers!
RWK
Hydrated.

Juggling snowballs at Dicks Pass.

What more can I say?

New Tips!

After 700 miles of being driven in & out of the dirt, rocks & sand that made up the trail, my hiking pole tips were somewhat worn down... So whilst we were resupplying in South Lake Tahoe, Tom & I also took a 90 minute drive to Reno in Nevada to get some more gear at the REI there... New pole tips being on my list, ad well as new shoes for us both.
So now we are hiking along in greater ease and comfort than the last weeks efforts...
Sweet!
More to come soon, cell coverage depending!
Cheers...
RWK.