Day 56

Trail miles: 16.2

Total: 735.4

A slow morning with a steep hill. I stopped for breakfast on a nice sit rock overlooking the valley below. I ate a cliff bar with a shot of expression baked in! I met Brad and Spare Change at the top, where I asked is cramping under my ribs was a sign of elevation sickness. Brad just thinks I need to drink more salts, but yes it’s probably because of the elevation. I popped two Propel packets in my 1 liter bottle and followed him down the hill. I enjoy hiking with Brad because we can complain about things together. At the bottom of the hill, we took a break where Krista and Raechel were eating. All four of us hiked the three miles left to the water source/lunch spot where tons of hikers congregated. The water was mostly stagnant and had a layer of oil on top, but we were all desperate and needed about 3-4 liters. Spare Change asked where we were camping tonight, and I said “at the top of the hill, if you lose phone service, you’ve gone too far.” It look me so long to get up the next hill. I took a break about every mile. But I was rewarded with service and a beautiful view at the top! A lot of people are camping here or at the campsite about a mile further. I think we will see a lot of people at the lake tomorrow. Raechel plans on waking up early and booking it to the lake without stopping. It’s about 15 miles. I’ll get there when I get there I guess! 

There is a training camp for military pilots near here so they fly over all the time. I wish I could get a photo, but they are so darn quick. And because we are so high up, they are very close to us or sometimes even below us. At camp, one flew very close above us upside down and then took a dive right after it cleared the mountain we were on top of. Probably the coolest thing I’ve seen on the trip.

Dinner was noodles and pesto. I need to stop using Ramen noodles for these sorts of dinners because it is not good. But I am hungry enough to eat it and I don’t want to carry the weight out. So I eat everything even if I don’t like it. Or there is a good chance someone will eat it for you. I packed everything up in my bear canister and set it away from my tent. Not everything fits in it right now, but we technically don’t need it until tomorrow night (the boundary line). I need to ask someone if I need to toss my garbage and baby wipes in there.