July 16th, 2009 - Squaw Creek to Saddle Above Bear Valley

Woke up to sun shing in our tent. Tom, the keeper of the alarm, decided to let us sleep in today. Hiking is starting to feel like work, so it was a treat to sleep in. Didn't roll our of camp until 7:15am.

Enjoyed a nice climb up to Tinker Knob. Passed a large group of trail runners. Made both of us wish we were out for a trail run instead. They looked so fresh and light on their feet.

Due to our late start, we felt like we were running behind all day. Hit Donner Pass about 1pm. We had read in Yogi's book that there was a restaurant close by - the Donner Ski Ranch. As luck would have it, the Ranch wasn't open today. We were 2 very disappointed hikers. Instead, we sat by an old metal shack and had out bread/tortilla cheese sandwiches. We were a sad, pathetic bunch. But hey, at least we had food.


Transcriber's Note: T&T sent me another entry for this date (same locations and info). This is the 2nd version.

Great camp at Squaw Creek. We both got a good night's sleep. Slept in - all the way until 6:15am. Hiking is starting to feel like a chore, so Tom decided to treat us to a late morning wake up. It was great watching the sun rise from our tent.

Finally got up and moving. Passed some trail runners out for a run. We both wished we were out trail running instead of lugging a big pack up the mountain. Great scenery around the Squaw Mountain area.

Tried playing catch up all day due to our late start. Walked until dark and found a flat spot atop a ridge - as far away from mosquitoes as possible. Didn't quite work though.

~Tori

A couple of miles later we hit the Interstate 80 rest area - the first official rest area on the trail. It was weird to walk into a rest area rather than drive up to one. We got a couple of funny looks. I think people thought we were homeless. Did have a couple of nice gentlemen come up to us and inquire about our trip. Turns out they are section hikers and plan to hike Interstate 80 to Sierra City starting tomorrow.

Feeling behind on schedule, we hiked well into the night - about 9:15pm in order to get 30 miles in for the day. Crashed up on the saddle above Bear Valley.

~Tori