sun-daze

Day 72 ~ 1139.8 - 1156.5

Usually hiking into town is so easy; most of the time it's downhill, and we have some extra pep in our step, motivated by the treats that await us.  Well, I think we started the day with some extra pep, but it faded pretty fast.  We knew we had some climbing to do, but it proved to be much more difficult than we anticipated.

The day heated up fast,  and most of the trail was without the shade of trees.  The heat sapped our energy, and my appetite.  As we neared the road at Donner Pass, I was dazed and slow, likely dehydrated.  We were in need of food for the next section; we were tempted by the thought of going into the town of Truckee.  A quick internet search revealed no cheap lodging options for the night, so we would stick to our original plan. 

The Donner Ski Ranch had posted signs at the trailhead that they were open for lunch, just 200 yards down the road.  We treated ourselves to yet another mediocre burger, but the staff is generous enough to give thru-hikers a beer on the house.

A guy who was dining at the Ski Ranch, Viper, with his 2 children, recognized us as hikers and struck up a conversation.  He drove us a couple of miles down the road to the general store in Soda Springs.  Still feeling totally out of sorts and in a fog from the heat, I had a really difficult time figuring out what food I wanted and how much we actually needed.  The store owner picked up on my distress, and generously gave us some fruit for free.

Viper brought us back and allowed us to organize and pack our food in his ski lodge.  Their vacation was over, so they were cleaning out the fridge.  They unloaded ice cream, among other things, on us.  We walked up the road to the trail, where we sat around in the shade and talked with some hikers.  As the day began to cool a bit, we hiked a short distance before setting up camp.