Day 46

Trail miles: 18.8

Total: 602.1

I thought I would have woken up somewhat relaxed since I am on my own schedule now, but I need to get 20ish miles done and I had that aggressive bull to worry about. I left at about 6:30am with 4 liters of water. Good thing I had that much because it was probably the most I have sweat on trail, even with my umbrella. It’s common to find a couple people struggling with dehydration on trail, so it’s best to try and spare a little water if you can or even a packet of electrolytes. I met Happy along the trail today and we walked together for a bit. She is from Germany, which is pretty much where every foreign hiker is from. I also met a couple from Aachen, where Kiersten lives! I told her I would wear a PCT shirt to see if anyone recognizes the trail, and she said do it! Even if no one else does, maybe they will see me over there. 

There was a detour apparently that is not on the FarOut app, which makes me nervous if I can’t rely on my phone, then I’m just relying on the trail signs and footprints. Someone said it added on a couple miles that I have no way to calculate. It all worked out, though, and it’s a good thing I see hikers everywhere on trail.

I passed the spot where the latest bull sighting was and thought I was in the clear, but next thing you know I hear loud and constant mooing from the bushes down trail. I grabbed my stuff and got out of there before it came into view. I stopped early for lunch around 11:00am because I was so hungry and my feet hurt again. I had tuna on a bagel. Then I slept until noon. The next four miles were just my dripping sweat. The hill is what really got me. I was chugging water. I took a break in some shade, but quickly got moving again out of boredom and the fact that the flies were so annoying. It was best too that I climbed the hill, because there was service there. There were a lot of blowdowns to climb over during the last stretch, and of course I added a few more scrapes to my knees. I made it to mile 600! Sad that the gang couldn’t be with me, but I’m sure they’ll be around for 700. I’m sleeping next to the spring so unlimited water again! There’s a ton of hikers here again, which is great because I do not want to camp alone. I’m not sure about tomorrow, because there’s a cache at 14 miles and that doesn’t seem like enough miles. I’ll try to see where Happy is camping tomorrow.