October 13 -19, days 197-203
PCT km: 2,040; kilometers hiked: 3,535
After careful consideration, Olli will quit the trail at the end of this section, in Quincy, and fly home via San Francisco. He considered adding a few days, but decided against it because he wants a stress-free transition. Work calls! Sabine will continue on alone. But, from the beginning:
Early evening on October 13 a staffperson from the Sierra Pine Resorts in Sierra City gave us a ride to the trail head. A strenuous ascent, from 1,400 to 2,200 meters over 12 km, followed. We managed it by nightfall. The reward was a super campsite with a fantastic view and an equally fantastic sunrise next morning.
Overall, the weather was fine, albeit the daylight hours are waning and it's mostly pretty cold now. In the lower regions, autumn has set in: the trail hereabouts is covered in golden yellow leaves. Slippery when wet! Till now we've been hiking mostly along the timber line on rocky slopes and mountains.
The first two days we met no one. On the evening of the third day, Sabine found a large and elaborate knife lying near a parking lot. There was a car parked on the lot. A man got out when he saw our lights, and asked if we were ok or needed something, water, food ... Wow! We desperately needed water, because we indeed faced a 20-km stretch without water the next day. Our plan was to hike to Alda Spring Campsite, from whence a 500-meter site trail leads to Alda Spring. Thus we were able to save ourselves the extra hike, in the dark. Mischa, who studied silviculture (forest sciences) in the Ukraine, again offered us food and batteries, which we declined with thanks. We did, however, shoot a night-time interview with him. Oh, and he hadn't lost a knife. So, we're taking it with us ...
An hour later we'd reached the desired campsite. It turned out we weren't the only ones: a hiker had already pitched his tent here and greeted us warmly, despite the lateness of the hour. The fellow had planned to decamp next morning, but couldn't find his trekking poles. We helped him look for them, but no luck. Bruce, whose trail name is Tortuga (slow turtle), had begun hiking the PCT 19 years ago, in sections. This year he'd embarked on the rest. He was heading southbound, and now only had the stretch to Sierra City left, from whence we'd just come. He decided to retrace his steps, because he suspected he'd left his poles about a mile north, where he'd rested the previous evening. With luck, it turns out: when he came back, he had his poles! We shot a lovely interview with him, which revealed that he works as a photojournalist, couples therapist, and pastor. Exchanged contact details and said goodbye. He was the last person we encountered on the trail until we reached Quincy.
Shortly after Bruce’s departure, Sabine for her part discovered she was missing her down jacket! She'd left it hanging on a tree during our break the day before. Both were green, so we overlooked them. Rather stupid because it's getting colder by the day. After Olli quits the trail, Sabine will take his down jacket, despite broken zipper. How dumb!
The night before we hoped to reach Quincy, it even rained! Likely the first time since we left Washington in August. We hope it won't happen again ... night-time temperatures below 0 degrees Celsius is enough to cope with for the moment! ;-)
Yesterday, on October 17, we reached the trail head to Quincy at 6:30 pm, which is 13 miles away. It was getting dark already (and also very cold) and we were hoping go get a ride as quickly as possible on this deserted road. We were in luck: the first car stopped. Viktor gave us a lift for about 6 miles on the truck bed of his pick-up ... Meanwhile, it was getting darker. Would another car even come by? We were lucky again! Once again the first car stopped, breaks squealing. A really funny guy named Yeremiah told us on no account would he leave us standing on the roadside – despite the fact that his car packed with wood. The backpacks were squeezed between the wood and we squeezed in on the passenger seat – Olli on the bottom, with Sabine on his lap. One of the oddest conversations we've ever had during our PCT adventure followed. We learned a lot about America, the Americans, and particularly about the differences between Silicon Valley and northern California. "The people in Silicon Valley sell terabytes. We here in northern California do the real work." He dropped us off at our motel in Quincy, the Spanish Creek Motel.
Directly at the reception desk, we made the particular acquaintance of the management, three generations hailing from India: mother Ila, daughter Roshni (which means "light"), and grandmother Jamnaben. Next day they fed us an Indian lunch. Super nice! Next morning at breakfast, we found out that there are other, tragic, stories: we met Adriana and her son James. Adriana had lost her son in a car accident (probably due to falling asleep at the wheel) a month ago; she and James were in Quincy to collect the personal effects from the car wreck.
In Quincy we'll spend the last two days together before Olli flies back to Germany. Sabine will hopefully continue on the PCT to Ashland. She has about 440 miles, which she hopes to cover in 25 days.
From now on, we will continue the blog separately.
Last but not least, in the Morning Thunder Café we were addressed by Sharon, who was in the café with her mom, Theresa, and wondered if we needed a lift to the trail head. Terrific! We both wanted to get back to the trail head and say goodbye there. Sharon gifted Sabine with a pretty scarf that she herself had received last year from a hiker from Maryland. Sharon offered to drive Olli the 80 miles to Reno, from whence San Francisco was easy to get to next day. Olli's original plan had been to take a bus to Chester that night - the only public transportation out of Quincy. From Reno he'd save several hours, which left him the option of dropping by our hiker friend Downhill Mike in Sacramento – Downhill Mike was the hike who'd given us our trail names.
At the trail head, our PCT paths finally separated. After 7 months and the most incredible time of both of our lives! After Sabine had disappeared behind a gigantic boulder, Sharon and Olli decided to drive to Reno in the morning after all. Olli was invited to stay at Sharon and her husband Dennis' house overnight, very near Quincy lag. True trail angels!
Photos