18th June
I slept reasonably well considering I W’s at an angle and down hill!
I laid in till 6.30 yes that’s a lay in
I was cold last night and I was Supprise to find that my shoes were frozen. So i wasn’t surprised to see frost on the ground once I got out of my tent. nobodies friend. Was so cold he climbed back up to the trail to be in the sun. I quickly broke camp and went to join him.off we went I was leading we were on the ridge with great views all around. In the distance was more Ski centres and the ski lifts. .as we approached the next hill there was a large snow drift..It looked very steep and slippy. Nobodies friend went first. I cautiously followed. I did think about sliding on my butt but it was too steep and I would possibly shoot off down the mountain. Onward to the road
The trail treating us fairly kindly with not too many climbs.at last we began to climb down and could see the car park in the distance . typically the trail was difficult very rocky and slippy. As I made my way down I passed about a dozen people with dogs going for their morning walks.we came out at the Trail head and walked the short distance to the road. As we approached a voice said “Cold drinks”

It was a trail angel by the name of Reno Dave.he opened up the ice box which was filled with sodas, water and beer.i went for a beer:-)
As we were chatting another hiker appeared he also grabbed a beer.
Then Dave gave us a ride into Truckee. On route Dave gave us a guided tour. The covered train sheds on the side of the mountain to protect
The train from snow.the original train tunnel. The bridge where a bear got stuck and had to be rescued. And the Donner party. A group of early settlers who got trapped in the snow and had to be rescued. It’s a bit gruesome as they resorted to cannibalism as they were trapped for so long in 20 foot deep snow.

He then dropped us off at safe way.
I didn’t need much but still some hill spent a fortune. I blame fresh oranges and grapes. Once done I sat outside in the sun trying g to fit it all into my pack. Much in grapes and charging my phone. Hurrah a signal. So i ordered new trail runners and new poles from REI. Complained about my current footwear. Found out solar monkey were sending me a new charger.
whoop. And tied up a few loose ends.
I rang smokes to see where he was. He answered then appeared around the corner. As we sat chilling and charging our phones Big sauce arrived.Due to phone issues I some how lost 10 days of my blog entry bugger bugger.i. Luckily Smokes had been writing a journey too so he kindly let me photocopy several pages so I can try and recreate the missing days. While sat outside I was amazed at the friendliness of the towns people asking us about our hike and generally being nice!
Once all done we visited DR’S fora burger and banana shake.Yummy
Then back to the road thumb out to hitch back to the trail head . Smokes and plant behind us. A lovely lady called Helen stopped and gave us a ride back to Donner Pass.As we got out Smokes and Plant arrived. Also there was Barbie & Zombie. And there was Sheriff Woody and Coughy going into town.we set off back on the trail.the  views of Donner lake were fantastic .as the trail climbed we all became spread out. I needed water so planned to call in at the freeway rest area.As I approached the road there were two large tunnels to walk through. Then a side  trail to the rest area.lovely fresh drinking water. .I topped up then doubled back to the trail. Further up saw another side trail and was  annoyed with myself as the rest area was a few feet away. vrrrrr .on I walked. Then caught Smokes. We walked on together at the top of a steep hill was  Da vinchi. He joined us for the short walk to the “Grub hut our destination for the evening.

It’s a small cottage for hikers to stay at and has two floors. There is also a two storey drop toilet. So when it’s deep in snow the top story would be level. Good planning. We decided to camp outside. So once the tents were up we sat together and cooked dinner. Smokes. Nobodies friend. Da vinchi plant and myself
I cooked “best darn chilli”.they all laughed at me as I had carried it from Lone pine 300 miles back! !!
But it was tasty 🙂