PCT 62 – Soda Springs

Daily miles : 15
Total miles : 1164

Cool,  but fairly still night. We had beautiful blue skies for our ridge walk and descent into the Donner Pass ski resort.  The morning light was really nice as it lit up the slopes.   Saw quite a few day hikers headed South on the trail and subsequently several cars parked at the ski resort next to highway 40. 

We didn’t have too many miles into Donner Pass this morning and made it down to the road by 9am. We were picking up a package at a Sierra Club Lodge that was a couple miles down from the pass.   After not getting a hitch (very few cars) for about 20 minutes,  Beardoh walked to the lodge to get our box.   After arriving, he learned that the package was not at the lodge. Apparently,  the PO folks don’t like to walk the driveway to the lodge,  so a lot of the packages never make it.   Thankfully,  the gal who was in charge grabbed her husband and had him give Beardoh a ride not only to the PO,  but also back up to the pass.   Excellent!

Once at the pass,  we sorted out our food from the resupply box and waited a short bit for the Donner Pass ski resort bar and grill to open at 11am.   Once open,  we got some burgers and fries,  and then later some pie and ice cream. The worker at the restaurant  did everything – bartend, cook and wait tables.   He handled the 12 or so hikers that were there when  he opened the door amazingly well and had food to everyone within 20 minutes…… Amazing.

We left the restaurant after 1pm, slow and in food-comas. We didn’t really have to do many miles today,  so we ambled along mostly but still got in 15 miles despite our slow speed,  a long break in the afternoon and the 4+ hours off for the resupply/restaurant stop.

We had nice walking in the afternoon,  especially as the day wore on and we got away from the rocky area immediately surrounding the pass.

Tonight we are camped in a low spot that is fairly swampy (and looked to be so for some miles) and full of mosquitoes.  They are very numerous and blood thirsty.  We were all in our windpants and windshirts as soon as we could get them on in camp.

Something interesting about the area.   On the trail and close to the trail head,  there is a variety of historical information regarding notable people or things – nice informational placards…. All unrelated to the notorious Donner Family tragedy.   It almost seems like an effort to rebrand the area.   This is odd,  since there are so many other things that locals decided to name in memory of the Donners – peaks,  ski resort,  lake,  the pass,  etc…