Day 67, 22.17 miles

Panda and I crushed it this morning! We got up semi early and hit the trail hard! There’s something about the cool morning time that allows time AND the miles to fly by really quickly. The scenery was nice and green with expansive views!

A lone hiker taking in the view 

Panda cruising

We kept doing slight climbs and dropping in between beautiful cliffs with mellow traverselines. Soon we had already done 11 miles! It was shortly after this that we approached a road and ran into some amazing trail magic! 

There were many hikers already there, including Happy and Keglegs! It was around 10:30am and we decided we’d call it an early lunch! The hosts were so awesome! They were wrapping up breakfast so they had all sorts of fresh fruit and yogurt with great cobbler type dishes. They were also rambling up for lunch and were soon making homemade pizzas on the grill and burgers and such! It was so great, we stayed for almost 3 hours!

Fresh raspberries for breakfast!

Happy drinking beer in a banana boat!

Keglegs dual wielding

We would’ve stayed for dinner, but the trail was calling our names! Happy, Keglegs, Panda and I took off in (sort of) a group, squeezing in some last minute mileage. We were a great group dynamic with a wide range of age ranges, and we discussed all sorts of Disney movies and animated movies, and decided which were the best. It’s crazy how much the opinions differed with just a few years difference between the four of us! 

Panda, Happy and I!

Leanin’

This was a HUGE tree (off to the right of the picture) that must’ve been struck by lightning and only about 1/5 of the tree remained, standing tall!!

Panda checking the view (or peeing)

I see desert way down there (or dessert) yum!

A few more miles passed by and we burst out onto a lovely ridge with a view to take a rest, talk to some day hikers, and eat a little food. There were so many wildflowers! And the view from the place I sat DEFINITELY reminded me of Dog Mountain in the Columbia River Gorge! (Minus the Columbia River)

Happy strolling along 

The scenery continued to change and eventually we dropped down next to a river into what would be our campsite for the night. Keglegs was behind the three of us, and by the time she rolled on by the mosquitos were out and she decided to push for a few more miles to hopefully camp skeeter free.

Even with the long break, Panda and I STILL managed to get in over 22 miles! And I feel great! Stoked for what’s ahead!

Thanks for reading!