We should have realized we were in for one heck of a day when our editor began whining the night before the hike. We ignored her as she chose the challenging ordeal. In keeping with good team spirit, we took over the whining once we hit the trail. It works nicely, sort of a relay; or share and share alike. Nevertheless, they define the hike as a ‘butt-kicker’—a little crude but apt.
Strenuous up, difficult coming down with some of the finest views we have seen anywhere. The climb, steep in places and very steep for the rest, rates as superb. It makes the Sierra Buttes of 10 days ago seem like a walk in the park. It’s appropriate to offer praise to our editor whose performance on the mountain was outstanding. At the peak, we viewed the surrounding mountains, which are massive, including the attractive Pyramid icon, Lake Tahoe twenty-five miles away and sprawling lakes below. As a bonus, we also came face to face with a bear. However, it was a brief encounter because we obviously have a fierce and ugly face.
We had an interesting Friday night in Downieville as things really ‘hotted’ up last week. We went to bed reasonable early after a tiring week trying to keep up with our editor. At about 11:40, an alarm went off in the Inn—seems like a lot of prepositions. We reached for the clock but remembered that it being Shabbat, we could not silence it. However, Jenni pointed out that it was, in fact, the smoke alarms throughout the building.
We raced to the passage only to return after we remembered we would need clothes although we were not sure of the correct attire for fire. Our editor returned red-faced after bumping into elderly men dressed in…not much. ‘What should we grab before we go?’ We asked our editor. She did not answer as she was panicking a little. However, when she saw us reaching for the Coke bottles ahead of other items, she nearly lost it; or, we nearly lost her.
Fortunately, the problem was not yet a fire. The Innkeeper had fallen asleep, leaving a pot of eggs boiling for breakfast, on the hotplate. Seems like our landlady enjoys a rum or two before bedtime.
Today’s statistics are fascinating, especially when adding in the extras for straying on the way down. Straying sounds much better than losing the trail, does it not? Nearly eleven miles, well over 3,000 feet in cumulative elevation gain, reaching an altitude of 9,250 feet. We are two tired souls, too tired to whine.
We’ll tell you a little of our new home in Kyburz next time.
Cheers,
Jenni and Jeffrey
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