7/5/18 – Slackpacking

Day 15

Miles: 1,207.30 to 1,195.42

The wind blows relentlessly through the night. We can hear it’s gusts in the crowns of the trees nearby. Luckily the campground itself is pretty protected and despite the gusts we eventually drift to sleep.

Birdsong wakes us at 4:50 but after the late night we turn and slept in till about 5:40. It’s only 12 miles to Sierra City. One hill to climb, then a very long down.

“So when are you and Swayed slackpacking?” Dave asks when we wake up.

Larry and Amanda offered to drive some of our stuff to Sierra City so that we could cross the section with much lighter packs. Swayed slackpacked a lot on the Appalachian Trail and is taking Larry on that offer.

“We haven’t made any arrangements,” I say. “I don’t mind carrying my stuff actually.”

Dave ponders our options. He was not completely in favor of slackpacking last night when the topic came up. Now he weights in all the pros and cons.

“I guess since we have to deal with your camera, we might try to be there as soon as possible,” he says in the end.

Slackpacking makes climbing hills easy. We fly the first and only hill in our way. The trail leads along couple beautiful lakes. Many hikers spent the night here yesterday.

Once we Crest, the path shoots downhill and it trends in that direction for a very long time. We can see the switchbacks across the slope and they are long and seemingly never ending. We can also see the Sierra Buttes and we have views down into the valley. It’s an amazing day. So much beauty around. After days mostly in forest, the open landscape takes our breath away.

At the bottom Larry picks us up and drives us around town until we find a super cute cabins at a place called My Sister’s Cottage that have vacancy for tonight and we move in.

We have some chores to do, especially swapping my camera and getting the package to be picked up by Fedex tomorrow. It’s incredible. It was Tuesday afternoon I called B&H Photo and the package is here promptly at 2:15 p.m. Those guys are really on their game.

Larry and Amanda get a bad news. Their van is not going to be fixed on time. They needed it to get home. They look for alternative ways. Some options exist but they are not cheap and in the end it seems the best option might be to drive back and wait for Monday.

The three of us are alone yet again. We plan to start early but later change our minds and decide to do a shorter day tomorrow, leaving sometime in the afternoon.