Sierra City to Belden

Sierra City:
Sierra City is a small town 1.4 miles off the trail with a population around 225. We stayed at a hiker-friendly place called the Red Moose Inn. You get a free shower, free laundry, and free camping in the back yard. During the day they are pretty much only open for hikers. They serve an all you can eat rib dinner that was delicious.  They open to the public for breakfast and we were sure not to miss out on that too.

In the corner of the bar reserved for the hikers there is a scale. All of the guys have lost from 10 to 30 lbs, the most lost at the weigh in was 50. All of the girls, 0 lbs lost. Wonderful to be so efficient at conserving our energy, storing and converting fats.

Like most places in Sierra City the grocery store closed early and opened late. We didn't have enough time to count calories and resupply after chores so we had to wait until they opened the next morning. Then due to the heat we chose to wait until later in the day to begin our hike.

Back on trail:
Our hike out of Sierra City starts with a 3,500 ft climb. Seems like we hadn't had a good long climb in awhile. The wind must be blowing smoke from another fire as our views to the south were blotted out by a thick haze.

We didn't make it as far as we were hoping in our half day, but found a flat spot. We still didn't have a reprieve from the bugs. On the first night there were so many flies under the tent at the end it sounded like rain. Thank goodness we have netting in the tent.

The highlight of the second day out of town was the thunderstorm. Mid day some dark menacing looking clouds appeared in the sky. Naturally the rolling thunder started just as we were to start a long climb over an exposed ridge. Before we got above tree line we decided to stop and cook and watch what the weather might do. It rumbled for an hour or so, then appeared to be clearing. So we made our way to the top of the ridge.

When we flipped to the other side of the ridge we could see that the storm had not cleared. It was in the distance, but not far enough away to make us comfortable staying on the ridge for too long. After watching a couple lightning strikes stretch to the distant ground we hustled our butts along. The ridge was exposed for a good three miles. I cannot say we were in the smartest place, but it was really cool to watch the storm from our vantage point.

Not long after descending from the exposed portion of the ridge we found our camp on a broad saddle in the trees. For the night we were across the trail neighbors with Gumby and Double-It.

Third day out was hot hot hot!  The humidity made it seem even warmer. At least in the desert you could dry out. The motivation for the day was knowing that a fork of the Feather River was at the end of our day. The camp site was supposed to have a good swimming hole. We beelined it down our 3,000 ft decent into the drainage and found it.

When we got to camp we dropped our bags and headed straight for the water. It felt so good. Refreshing, but not so cold your limbs went numb like the high Sierra streams. After washing off we ate our big meal of the day. Chili with a package of Ramen. Other hikers arrived and we went back down to the river to join. I was still hot just sitting around and I was looking forward to another cooling dip. When I got back to the river I saw a snake on a rock, then saw it swim into the water. Brownie said they were water snakes. Gumby said she saw several swimming on the other side, but they were small. I was glad to have swam in ignorant bliss of their presence on my arrival. No matter how small they were there was no way in hell I was getting in that water now.

Fourth day out and Fourth of July. The heat wave did not relent. Law of the trail dictates that what goes down must come back up. We had an early morning to get a cool start on our 4,000 foot climb out of the Feather River. The climb actually didn't end up being nearly as bad as everyone was making it seem like it might be the night before. Even so, the day was hot and being it was the 4th of July, this gave us all the excuse we needed to hitch out for a beer and pizza at Lakeside Resort.

Kiddo, Brownie, Cowgirl, and I got an easy hitch into the resort. Brownie said he wishes he could hitchhike with three girls all the time. To our delight the Lakeside bar was really a bar. We had plenty of beers to choose from and a great place to sit away from the bugs.

When we were waiting in the lounge area before we left a lady came up to us and asked if we were hiking. When we said yes she asked if she could shake our hand. I thought, there are a couple hundred of us who do this each year and even after washing my hands they are not the cleanest, but sure, if you want to shake my hand go for it. She said she read the book, Wild, and told herself if she saw any of us she would shake our hand. Ah, Ms. Strayed has put hikers in the celebrity category again.

The rest of our hike into Belden was fairly uneventful and marked mostly by the 4,000 ft decent into town. If I had to choose between a steep descent or ascent; I would climb all day. ...unless the descent was covered in snow. This one was not, instead it was covered in poison oak.

We had heard some interesting stories about Belden. We crossed the railroad tracks and into "Belden Town". We hoped finding the Braaten's where we mailed ourselves a package would not be too difficult.

Happy Trails!

Trail Statistics
Mile: 1,290
Days: 79