Day 16 - Mile 1181

I left Sierra City a bit after 7am, walking back to the trail. I was hoping for some trail magic, in the form of a lift, but no one stopped. Oh well. It was pretty. And safe enough. 

After 1.4 miles I came to the trail head and turned right, towards my goal. The walking was cool and shady which always makes for easier miles, relatively speaking. 

Whoever decided yellow was a good color to paint the letters on these signs made a big mistake. I can barely read them when I'm standing right there. Small rant over. 

I soon crossed the Yuba River on a big bridge, which I was glad to see in place. That would be a very dangerous crossing otherwise. 

The first part of the day was climbing but it was pretty gradual over many miles. I was just deciding to stop for lunch when I made the goal of getting to the top of the ridge before eating. One switchback away I caught my right foot on something and fell forward on my left side. I sightly sprained the fingers on my left hand and somehow fell on a water bottle on my ribs, left side. Nothing hurt very badly and I was mostly just dirty from landing on the ground. So, other than some stiffness in my fingers and some discomfort with my ribs, there was no harm, no foul. BTW, if you have to fall, I recommend falling while walking uphill. You don't have as far to fall that way. 🤣

Early in the day I got the wild idea that I might be able to actually get to my next stop before the post office closes on Friday at four. Otherwise I'm stuck waiting around for my bear canister till Monday morning. This would require two 15 mile days and another of 10 or 12.  So I tried to hike 15 trail miles today. I fell short as I only walked 13.7 trail miles. However if I add in the road walk I did walk 15.1 miles today, by 4:30. I'll see how I feel in the morning and if I'm feeling ok I may try to see how many miles I can get done  Goals are good.

The trail for most of the day was nothing unusual. I did pass a huge reservoir named Jackson Meadows Reservoir but the trail didn't go near the water so I only got a glimps of it. 

Finally I just decided to give it up for the day. I was hurting and the next water source was uphill and 2 miles ahead. I had two liters with me which would do me fine for over night. Tomorrow may be better, in terms of miles.