Day 91: ⛺ @ mile 1127.2 - Donner Pass

Date: 07.07.2018 Miles hiked today: 26.6 miles / 42.80 km Total Mileage: mile 1'153 Total Gain in Elevation: +1351m /-1523m I got up at 5.15am today, aiming to start before 6am. But i seem to be the first one getting up at this tent site so I try to be very silent and that takes more time. Also all the ultralight material is very noisy! As this is the last spot to get water for about 8 miles a lot of hikers camped here. I also still have to refill all my water bottles. Feels like being back at the desert again. So I finally hit the trail by 6.10am. It's 26.2 miles to Donner Pass where we shall get a 40 ounce free beer, so that's were I want to go today. There are a couple of uphills to climb, also because we hike through some skiing mountains. The first uphill is a gentle one, with beautiful wild flower fields and a lovely ridge walking seeing down to Lake Tahoe. I can see how beautiful this most be in winter when skiing here. There are some skilifts right up here (called Alpine Meadows Ski Area). I found a beautiful sheltered spot up there after about 6 miles hiking and decide to have breakfast. My granola cereals are delicious and I guess worth it the extra weight. As I hiked big miles yesterday and went to bed late plus got up early I can feel that I'm tired today. I hike rather slowly. Luckily a couple just passed and they walk super speedy and its downhill for the next 3 miles. I try to follow them getting in some miles. Sometimes it's easier to walk behind someone and pick up their speed rather than hiking alone. It feels good and my energy is coming back. Too fast the downhill is done and the next uphill is waiting. Today it's up and then down and back up the next mountain all day long. This coming uphill to Squaw Valley Ski Lifts is steep, I just started to like the uphills again because they are more gentle and easier to hike then the ones in the Sierras till South Lake Taho but this one is quite steep again. The view however is worth it. The chairlift is also right here, but not running in summer. However, there are a lot of day hikers out today. It must be weekend again (I have no clue of dates and week days out here. It simply doesn't matter to us so it could be any day) and close to a town or a street. The downhill is also steeper than expected. I feel that my body needs new energy in form of food but I want to hike down that mountain to the next water source. I struggle and my feet hurt, as in the beginning when I started the PCT. I guess all that gravel walking and big mile days wore on me. I reach the bottom and meet 3 Dome again. We have met on he dome on my birthday. He is called 3 dome cause hee hiked up the half dome cables three times in one day. The first time in the morning. When he climbed down the cables later reached he thought he left his phone up there and went back up. We were all looking for his phone but couldn't find it. It turned out it was in his backpack pocket (I found it!), which was down the cables. Then he left his jacket up there and went up the cables a third time the same day! The funny thing is that someone has taken joannes jacket and we found another jacket which didn't seem to belong to anyone (I've asked all the people on half dome. 3 Dome was climbing down or up the cables at that time and hence was not around then). We then found joannes jacket at the bottom of the cables and thought that this person most have noticed that he/She picked the wrong jacket. We were all surprised that this person was not waiting to get back the jacket but there was no one there! So we carried both jackets with us and would have asked around in the valley. It turned out that this was 3 dome's jacket who was up on half dome at that time for his phone which i found in his backpack belt pocket. I screamed up that his phone is down here and he climbed down. We in the meantime hiked on, carrying his jacket and he must have noted that he has his phone but his jacket is missing and climbet up a 3rd time! How hilarious is that:)!! We met him later that day, found out about his missing jacket and returned it to him. That's so ridicolous:)))) So we both had lunch together and I even took a short nap before climbing up Tinker Nob. Tinker Nob was short bus steep. And even so it's worth it hiking it up because of the views, also the downhill was quite hard. The trail was often full of gravel. May I'm also just getting tired and really want to reach Donner Pass soon. I hike speedy and reach Donner Pass around 6pm, just in time for the free beer and some dinner. As km not a big beer drinker I was never capable to finish that bottle also it's not the best beer. But other hikers were happy to take my leftover beer which was still more than half the bottle. Around 8pm I got back on trail, just to the next camp spot in 0.4 miles to pitch my tent. It's the first time I pitch my tent in the dark. Soon later I crawl fully satisfied with my day and with a belly full of food to into my sleeping bag:)