Miles hiked: 27.3
Mile marker: 1946.4
Total ascent: 3000 ft
Total descent: 3200 ft
The day starts with some fast hiking. Bumper and Voyager started earlier than Rafiki and me.
We’ve barely left the tent site when we run into Socks, who we haven’t seen in forever!
Then we run into Broccoli and chat with him for a few minutes.
Once we get going, we’re hiking fast. We listen to a sermon about faith, the Crazier Faith series from Transformation Church that I frequently listen to. It’s already warm as we move through the wooded forest.
We get a message from Voyager that there is trail magic ahead! We soon follow the signs that lead us there.
And another sign.
A very well illustrated sign.
And another.
And finally, hot dogs! This is Ducky’s Dad! We met Ducky around Tahoe. He’s hike all three trails (Pacific Crest trail, Appalachian trail, Continental Divide trail) and told us his dad would be here.
We thought we weren’t going to see him because he wasn’t supposed to be volunteering on Thursdays.
We got lucky!
So we enjoy hot dogs and Oreos and sodas. I also meet two friendly young women who are also from North Carolina!
We keep hiking. We’re moving quickly so we’ll get into camp at a descent hour.
The sun is wicked hot. We soak our shirts in the lake. The hike turns into a burn zone. It’s a massive field of burnt trees. The sun shines brightly as we walk through the ash stricken land. It feels Martian out here.
Soon, we run into more trail magic! I’m on the phone with Magra (my grandmother) and Rafiki is talking to his mom. We quickly hang up the calls so that we can help another hiker named Jack Sparrow who lost some sunglasses (which her partner Scrambled Eggs quickly found by calling her name and holding up the sunnies).
“Thanks for stalling me!” Jack Sparrow says.
We sit down for some grilled pizza and cheese burgers. Delicious! We chat with the other hikers, one of which is named Mini Squeeze. He always comments on far out that water is a big squeeze or little squeeze or squeezable… I don’t actually know how to interpret his water flow comments. But he’s really cool.
We enjoy delicious cheeseburgers and pizza and I get an orange Fanta! Yum!
It’s time to go.
We keep hiking. We’re moving at four miles an hour. My hips hurt a bit. Rafiki’s knees hurt. I’m chased by a yellow jacket that buzzes around me for half a mile.
It’s good to know that I can move so quickly up and down these trails!
We stop at a lake for water and to rinse our legs off. A few miles later and we join the others for camp! It’s 8:00 pm, so we made pretty good time. We’re often at camp at 7:30.
Tomorrow we have a longer day, so we need some good rest tonight!
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