alternate adventure

Day 78 ~ miles 1250.9 - 1272.5

Today started out pretty much like any other day; we didn't have any idea the excitement that awaited us this afternoon.  Strewn about our campsite were some old cables, a rusty hopper, and other unknown objects.  We learned that it was an old gold mining site, and that the Feather River was one of the best known for gold mining.

We climbed and climbed in the heat; it was a long way up from the Feather River.  By a spring, we took our midmorning break; Landslide, Handbrake, Pixel, and Shazam all eventually joined us there.  Handbrake mentioned that an old friend would be arriving at a nearby campground this afternoon, and invited us to the campsite for some food and drinks.  We thanked him for the invite, but thought that we probably wouldn't be joining the party.  Our maps pointed out an alternate to the PCT, which was a road that passed by small stores, camgrounds, cabins, and restaurants, all situated around Buck's Lake; this is where the campsite was.

We hiked on and my wheels started to turn, motivated by my hiker hunger; how could we pass up this opportunity?  I realized that our next resupply point was a town 30 miles from the trail, and we only needed to buy 2 days of food; that's a lot of trouble for a little food.  With a little convincing, Moonshine agreed that it would be best to buy our food at a much closer store, on Buck's Lake.   Joined by Shazam and Pixel, we sat in the shade to study the map; the 4 of us decided we were taking the alternate route and hiked together until we got there.  The road was much busier and windier (more dangerous) than we expected.  Shazam stuck his thumb out, and immediately we had a ride.  First stop was business, so we could play later.  We bought our groceries and waited a bit for Handbrake to arrive.  Impatience was setting in, and we didn't want to wait all day, we were hungry.  When we decided that we couldn't (didn't want to) wait any longet, we quickly got a ride down the road to our next destination, a restaurant.  We sat on a lakefront deck and had a delicious meal, while watching the holiday weekend bustle on the lake.  After our meal, we all went down to the lake to swim.

We quickly got back to the trail and hiked a couple more miles to our home for the night.  A couple who we hadn't met, Wilbur and Shady, were there camping as well.  We instantly connected with them, and had the best time telling stories and belly laughing.  It's an amazing experience to connect with someone so instantly like that. Sadly, they're traveling south, but we think our paths will cross again someday.  An unforgettable day on the trail, for sure!