Day 101

Trail miles: 24

Total: 1485

I guess my sleeping pad has another leak, this time coming from the valve. It was worse than the last time and I had to blow it up constantly. Tonight I put luekotape over the valve to hopefully hold it until I am able to buy a new one. I wonder if there’s some kind of warranty on it. I have a three season one at home I could use for the time being as well.

I kept up with the gang for 5 miles down the hill going about 3.3 mph. I felt like we were going so fast. I stopped halfway down the hill to take a pee break and eat a snack. I don’t know how these people just hike hike hike and never need to stop. The last time I ate and hiked, I ended up on my face. When I got down to the water, I was told by Brad and Raechel that they were all pushing high mileage to get closer to town. Brad doesn’t want to do a lot of miles tomorrow and Raechel needs to get in to see a doctor for a possible UTI. I got really worried that I was going to be alone tonight, and worse, have to hitch alone. So when I dropped my filter bad into the river with no sign of retrieving it, I started crying and hyperventilating immediately. The water was just so cloudy and deep I couldn’t see anything. I was really at a lot point there. Raechel let me use her filter. I hiked 3 miles up the hill before I took a break for lunch. And then I found the rest of the group at lunch 3 more miles up the trail. I got to sit down again and use the service for 15 more minutes. Then I made it down the rest of the 5 miles to camp before 5:00pm. I really made good time today and my feet weren’t hurting quite as bad as yesterday. Krista, Lifeguard, and I are the only ones at camp. The rest moved to to get closer to town. We swam in the swimming hole, but it was pretty cold so I didn’t last long. Then Krista let me use her filter. I have started to put everything I eat into a tortilla just because. At least my chili burrito made more sense than Krista’s ramen burrito.