I hope these sunrise pics aren’t getting boring for anyone out there.. I’m still loving them !

Lots of lakes in the valleys below… but none on the trail 😦

Still the occasional snow patch.
I almost hitched a ride to town.

The Sierra Buttes… will be hiking over the right shoulder in a couple hours.

Descending into Sierra City…zoom in to see the trail snaking down.

The Sierra City general store was a happening spot… cold drinks (98+ degrees outside) and free wifi.

Definitely time for new shoes…

…luckily they arrived as planned!
Best $7 spent today!

Temps were very mild this morning even at 5000+ feet of elevation. I was hoping that wasn’t a sign of what was to come later in the day!

The smokey haze makes for an eerie sunrise.

Most of the day was either hiking above treeline through dry desert landscapes …

..or densely wooded forests (most of the day) providing much needed shade. It wasn’t quite as hot as the last several days since the trail stayed at higher elevations (5000′-7500′).

This deer walked about 20′ ahead of me down the trail for a couple hundred yards…could have cared less about me.

I called it quits a couple miles earlier than I had planned when I saw this great campsite…there was even a creek nearby, which have been rather scarce the last couple days.

Tomorrow is a shorter day into Sierra City (“city” in the loosest sense of the word). Maybe I can give my feet a good scrubbing, perhaps even a shower! Plus, I have some new shoes waiting for me. My current shoes gave me 650 tough miles and are starting to get more holes than I care to mend…although plenty of other hikers out here would squeeze another 250mi+ out of these.

This was the view I woke up to in my sleeping bag. I might miss this the most in a couple weeks!

An unexpected bathroom was a nice surprise mid-morning.

I think I found some squirrel’s mother lode!
(Most of these are 12-18″ long)

There were a couple views today, but mostly obscured by smoke-haze.

The temps got into the mid-90’s but the trees kept things reasonable most of the day. By mid-afternoon it was just hot everywhere… until an oasis like this!

This was an impressive bridge built just for the PCT over the middle fork of the Feather River.

The crickets are getting loud for the first time. Kind of soothing after a while.
It was a long dusty-dirty day.

I almost saw a bear today, instead I only heard it. Bears have a very distinct sound when they run off through the woods. Kind of like a bull in a China shop breaking every bush and branch in their path. Where as deer tend to glide through the woods when they run, barely touching the ground.