Everything was still wet - tent, jacket, socks, shoes, etc. from yesterday's rain. It was cold and humid throughout the night & there was no chance anything was going to dry. Anyway, we packed up our packs and headed out hoping for the sun to hit the trail soon. After a couple of hours, we did manage to thaw out and got warmed up. I was a walking clothes line with all my stuff on the back of my pack (see below)
However the bigger issue was that Karthik was in significant pain in one of his legs. It looked like he might have hit a tree or something when he slipped on the snow traverses yesterday. After some deliberation, we derived that it would be best if he got off the trail and took care of his leg. Luckily there were some exit trails and we chose one that got him down to one of the ski villages near Tahoe City. It was a hard decision, considering how much we would have liked to hike together & the effort and planning he put into it, but it was the right decision. Injuries are unfortunately a fact of life on the trail and one needs to get those taken care of before they become worse. Karthik did slowly & painfully make it down to ski village where he could rest overnight before heading home, while I continued on my hike.
My goal for the day was to go up to Tinker Knob pass and then head down to Donner Ski Ranch.
Reached Donner Ski Ranch around 5:45 pm, after I got some soda & cookies trail magic from Robin (spouse of one of the thru-hikers).
DSR offered a dorm room bed for $30/night to PCT hikers which incl use of laundry, WiFi, charging, showers etc as well use of the fully stocked kitchen. It was a very good deal!
In addition, all PCT hikers got a 40 oz (1.2 liter) bottle of beer for free if you showed a copy of the permit. Here was mine 🙂
Met Tank, who is doing the Triple Crown (PCT, Appalachian Trail & Continental Divide Trail) - all in a single year. Totally awesome stuff!
Sofie also arrived at DSR an hour or so after I did, after a long 28+ mile day. It was great to see her again! Now we could hike together again.
With John the Baptist at dinner - a 2015 PCT thru-hiker as well as a Triple Crowner and a current trail angel.
Today was a mixed bag!
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