Day 91, 24.1 miles

The first thing I got to do this morning was one of the best things in the world! Take a shower!! Here’s where 90% of readers need to prepare to cringe: NOT including rivers or lakes as real showers, I haven’t had a real, indoor, soap and shampoo shower for 250 miles!! All the way back at Drakesbad Guest Ranch! Go ahead and judge, I have no regrets!! Haha. I figured I should take a shower before seeing my mom in a few days ;)

The motel that the four of us had stayed in offered free rides up to the trailhead, but since it was originally going to be just Drippy and Calamity staying there, I’m not sure the motel KNEW about 4am and I. Luckily, Cribbage and Hobbit were staying 4 doors down from us, and they said they could give me a ride up! (4am needs to stay in town for two more days as he has an interview on Wednesday!) 

Hobbit got off the trail in Chester, but now she’s back, following Cribbage around in the car for support and resupply. It’s so awesome! Oh the retired life! Hahaha.

Hobbit on left and Cribbage on right, and a nice Subaru Outback! 

Hobbit dropped us off at the trailhead at around 9:30am, and Drippy and Calamity got dropped off minutes after from the motel shuttle. There were about 10 hikers trying to hitch into town, and both vehicles went over to give some of them a ride back. I knew I still wanted to do about 20 miles today, and I knew it wouldn’t be that hard to achieve. The trail started in a steep climb, and I hiked out with Drippy, talking and catching up some more. He knew about Benton Hot Springs (the place Claire and I went during her visit) and he actually lives right in Mammoth!!

1600 today!!

Drippy

The trail was actually very beautiful today, and I took a lot of pictures. I’d say 30% of everything I went through today were burn areas. The southbound section hikers that took me down to Etna had told me that I wouldn’t like the section because it was steep up and it all got burned. I thought it was super nice! A tough day nonetheless but very beautiful! 

My favorite of the day!

There was one section that looks like the fire had only gotten to half of some of the trees, and on the other half was untouched green pine! So crazy! 

Whaaaaa?!? 

Cool ridges

Nice alpine lakes!

Although it was hot, there was a nice breeze for a lot of the day! All the hikers around me (including myself) all seemed like they got their butts kicked today. A lot of the trail was just loose sharp rocks, so you really had to be more careful with each foot placement in your steps. Oh, speaking of feet! The strange mark on my right foot is slowly getting better and doesn’t hurt as much anymore! It’s definitely just a bruise and not a fungus! Anyway, back to the pics!!

The haziness of the smoke from the nearby fires made for a lot of cool looking views, like in the picture above. Luckily, I along with the other hikers, have not felt a deterioration in air quality or have noticed any difficulties  or discomfort breathing. It’s still just a far away haze.

 

For some reason, in the later afternoon once the sun started hiding behind some of the trees, all of the gnats like to sit on the rocks. Maybe they’re still “warmish” from the sun? At least they’re not flying in my face! 

Super pretty flowers just before camp

Tons of deer here, I can hear them walking around and grazing very close to me. One hiker that’s camped here said “Hey if there’s deer around, then there’s no bears around!” Don’t know how true that is but I’ll take it.

Wow, I’m really really tired.. I can’t believe I still did 24 miles and didn’t start until almost 10am!! I also took a bunch of breaks today. Granted I DID hike until about 8:30pm, which is way later than normal. It’s 10:04pm as I’m typing this, I need to pass out now!

Thanks for reading!