Long Story Short (Chips Fire) - 7/30-8/4

I spent half of the 30th playing 'find where my chacos are in the mail' while in Sierra City. Apparently the town doesn't accept FedEx so my sandals were forwarded to a distribution center in Reno, NV. My phone didn't have service in town so I didn't get the voicemail about it and called Chaco for the tracking number. The guy on the phone was extremely nice and helpful and actually talked to FedEx that morning about my sandals. So I called FedEx and had them forwarded to a small store in Belden and I would arrive around Friday to get them. After all that was figured out a bunch of us caught some more of the olympics at a bar then we hiked out up a big uphill. It wasn't terribly strenuous because the switchbacks were graded well and the views were fantastic. We set up camp right next to the trail, it was pretty dark so we called it a night.

The next day we spent hiking forever (and ever) and ended up doing 27 miles. Around dusk I was on the ridge and could see the smoke from the fire near Belden as the sun set next to it. The folks at Sierra City said the fire should be completely contained by Friday so it should work out perfect to get my sandals. Coming office ridge we were confronted in pitch black by a dog barking pretty aggressively. We shouted hoping to hear a person and after a couple minutes the owner woke up and calmed Petrofski down. Yeah sound it out because I have no idea how that dogs name is spelled.

The next morning we got three miles to a logging road that connected the towns of LaPorte and Quincy where a section hiker headed south who was just dropped off informed us of a bunch of new information. The fire near Belden had grown from the winds over the past two days back to an uncontrolled status. The fire could be seen from the road and the man said that highway 70 was closed from Belden to Quincy and that the walking detour around the fire was now also on fire. So the recommended way to avoid the fire was to take a bus from Quincy to Chester and if the road between Belden and Quincy (70) is closed, we need to get to Quincy. Aaannddd my sandals are in Belden, the town on fire the lucky streak continues. So we sat at the road for hours only really logging trucks passing by until a nice lady with a wonderful dog from Davis, Ca came off trail and gave Spins, myself, the crazy lady in a floral cat dress, and Pertrofski a ride into Quincy. Spins and I had to wait for packages in Quincy so we hung out and watched the olympics as well as the helicopters outside dip into the lake for water to battle the ever growing fire. The next morning FedEx called to tell me that Beldens being evacuated and they have my Chacos. The FedEx guy was nice enough to drive them over to Quincy and drop them off at the hotel!

The next day close to ten to twelve hikers took the public bus up from Quincy to Chester and Spins and I split a hotel room with Flagman, a retired Army Colonel, and Scooter. We'll finally be able to get back on trail in the morning.