Day 73 - 30 Miler

Day 73 - Saturday, July 7
North Creek (1,166.3) to Sierra City (1,197.5)
Miles today - 31.2

The landscape is changing again now that we're getting to the northern part of the state. The mountains are lower, more rounded, and more forested. It's hotter too since we're at much lower elevations, but the hiking is quite a bit easier.



Macho and I had 15 miles done at lunch. We weren't planning to get to Sierra City today, but it was only another 16 miles away and it was a little after noon. We had about six hours to get to town before the store closed and we decided to go for it.



It was my first 30+ mile day and we were in town before 6 pm.



Sierra City isn't much of a city. There's about 250 residents and a really short main street. I got a burger and a pint of Ben & Jerry's from the store. The Red Moose Inn allows hikers to camp in the backyard for free, and offers free showers, laundry, and WiFi, so that's where everybody stays. Bronco and Fairway got here earlier today, and there's a bunch of other hikers here, some who I haven't seen in two months, and some who I've never met.

I got to meet the legendary Billy Goat. He's been on the trail something like 11 years in a row and has logged over 25,000 miles. He was really friendly and interesting to talk to.



It's really hot here and it'll probably be hard to sleep. I'm not even in my bag yet and I'm sweating.