Day 77

Trail miles: 21

Total: 979.8

We woke up to frost on our tents and wet sleeping bags. I kept my puffy on for a while before I actually started to warm up. Today was a double pass day, but the only thing difficult about them was the approach hill, because I still suck at hills. I walked through all the water crossings with my shoes on, because I thought they would dry by the end of the day. I was wrong. I put my crocs on for the three back to back water crossings before lunch. While we were sitting there I noticed a guy heading across the water. It turned out to be Jupiter! He is a very popular YouTuber with a lot of influence on the ultralight hiking community, meaning definitely not me. But I like his vlogs and he has a lot of them. It was nice to get to chat with him for a bit even though it was mostly Raechel talking. And we will probably never see him again. On the long downhill of the first pass, Krista’s pole hit and unstable rock, and her weight fell toward her pole and broke it into three pieces. She threw the piece in her hand down the hill. Now that it’s all over, we joke that she totally had a Cheryl Strayed moment. I’m the movie Wild, Cheryl Strayed loses a boot down a hill, so she chucks the other one off the edge in anger. Anyway, near the top of the second pass there was a lake and Raechel and I jumped in! That was my first body of water that I decided to go swimming. I probably should have chosen to do it on a warmed day or at least not the end of the day. So all my clothes are wet still. We caught up to Lifeguard, Big Owl, Wonka, and Seabear! Oh, when I jumped into the water, I lost my croc in the muck. I tried poking my toe around to get the croc unstuck, but I couldn’t feel anything. I got out of the water feeling sad that I lost it, but after about 10 minutes, it floated back to the top! I shouted “there it is!” and jumped in to get it. Krista video taped me and everyone enjoyed the show. Something to laugh about for sure! I was so cold after jumping into the lake that I tried to hike quickly to warm up. Then Spare Change said I breathe like a cat? Well he said I reminded him of going hiking with his cat, but I don’t think that’s any better. It’s Lifeguard birthday today and she decided to take a full on birthday suit pic at the top of the pass. At the bottom of the hill, there was a water crossing. We waited for everyone to make it down the hill before we crossed the big log upstream. We were joined by a hiker from the Czech Republic for a bonfire! We sang happy birthday to Lifeguard as Big Owl lit three of my matches in a piece of chocolate cake. Now we sit here waiting for the fire to burn out. I saw a shooting star while laying down as close to the dying fire as I could. The Czech said it was customary for men to drink 10-15 beers and then pee on the fire to put it out. I said well let me know when you do that and I will leave. There was only three of us watching the fire to make sure it went out. It took until 10:00pm before I gave up and poured all my water on it. Then I went back to the river for another liter. Tomorrow we might hit 1000 miles! I can’t believe we’ve hiked this long but also I can’t believe we have to do it again.