Miles traveled: 25.3
Mile marker: 619.5
I wake up before the alarm goes off and I don’t want to get up.
Bumper moans! «I don’t want to». Like a teenager. I feel the same.
I sit down and start putting my electronics into their ziploc bags. I have 45 minutes to repack, so I change clothes, put away my sleeping bag, lie down on my sleeping pad with the valve open to release air, and begin the frustrating process of trying to get the air out of my stuff.
I’m ready a few minutes before six. Go me!
The sun is rising and I walk through a golden field. The hills open up and there are layers and layers of green laid out before me. The white horizon fades into brilliant blue.
600 miles! We get to some sticks, then the pinecones say «600!»
Every hundred miles I complete feel so big. I wonder if one day he will stop feeling big. Every hundred miles is another week of surprises, determination and learning.
«I’m going to look for a cistern. I’ve been here five times and I only found it once!» Dad says and disappears.
I continue walking and meet Poppy and Seaby. We chatted for a while about New Zealand, the opportunities there. I learn about what they studied in college and talk about where we want to go in the future. We all just want to travel at this time in life. They will move to Canada after completing the PCT.
I see a red shirt and a cowboy hat. «Hello Rafiki!» say.
«Hello,» he says. A few moments later he passes us. I think I may go alone today.
We arrived at the stream. I fill my bottles and spend a few minutes while the others catch up. The stream doesn’t have a huge flow, so I press my bottle against the rock to let in more water before grabbing another bottle and using it to transfer water to the first. I just need a liter and change anyway.
We chatted with a guy named Leap Frog, who is from the same area as Savannah.
We continue walking. 4.7 miles to our lunch spot. I plug in some music.
The floor is covered with pine straw. The sweet scene of the pine tree fills my nose, but it also burns me. The pine trees rise carefully around me, as if I were a foreigner who has just entered the gates of their town, and they greet me in low voices.
The villagers welcome me into their home as I walk towards the pearly gates of the Sierras.
Pines = Nearby mountains.
I meet Savannah. He finds a box and opens it to find a pile of papers. I almost missed our turn while we were walking.
«Spring is out of place,» says Savannah.
«Oh yes!» say. I knew it. I looked at the map earlier to see them but I wasn’t paying attention while we were talking.
We are soon in spring! It’s basically a tin bathtub with a hose that pours water into it. I wash my dirty legs and rinse my socks and shirt. I hang them carefully on the clothesline, a barbed wire fence, and sit down to lunch.
“I waited at the cistern for 45 minutes!” Dad says.
«Oh! We spent some time at the creek,» I say. I wish I had seen the secret cistern.
I decide to have a ram pump for lunch. I add the white chicken.
It’s disgusting.
Damn.
I swallow it, chase it with a snickers bar, and then lie down for a short nap.
Meanwhile, Luxie Lucy is enjoying a nice warm bubble with a glass of red wine and a good book in the trough. What a life!
The next thing I know, I’m the last one ready. We continue walking. It’s uphill and I’m already sweating after washing all that salt off my face!
I’m a little tired and sluggish, so Dad and Savannah pull through. The bumper left before us and Luxie Lucie is behind me.
I stay a little behind. The pine trees become bushes again. I walk for a while in the heat. A mud-colored snake with a yellow stripe the width of a pencil whizzes past me and climbs a tree. Wow! I didn’t know snakes could climb trees. Except for The Jungle Book.
Dad is sitting on some rocks. I join him and clean the remains off my shoes. My alligator has a hole so my shoes got filled with sand!
We continue and walk a couple more kilometers. Everyone is ahead.
We arrived at the water tank! From a distance it looked like a plate of bubbles. A guy is here with trace magic. I drink sparkling water and some energy gels. Thank you! We throw away our garbage.
The cool thing about this place is that my grandfather, G-pa, was here five years ago when my dad last hiked the trail.
G-pa came to visit dad on the trail and brought him trail magic: donuts and coffee! Dad’s friend Kale was vegan. G-pa brought a vegan donut for Kale, but she wasn’t there. Dad was happy to eat the vegan donut.
Dad and I took a photo, a memory of where G-pa and Dad were five years ago. Where dad and I are together today.
We are near the end of the day.
“There is a camp 50 meters further back,” says Lucie.
“I’m not coming back!” Dad says. I agree. Just go ahead!
«I don’t feel well. My throat hurts since this morning,» says Lucie.
Uh-oh.
We decided to keep moving. There are mice here. We reached a dirt road. The mice are here too. Lucie now has a fever. We offer to call the tracking angel who gave us his phone number. She decides to move on.
We went up for a few minutes. Dad gets a great place! I think he wanted to put his tent where I’m lying, but I put up my tarp and Savannah and Bumper did the same.
Move your store to another location. I feel bad because he has to change location. We all offered to move, but many of us are already in bed.
I eat too much ramen and save all my food. Let’s hope no mouse finds its way here.
The sky is covered with white clouds and turns pink and yellow on the horizon.
We walked a lot more than I had planned today. I hope tomorrow will be easier because we have a lot of uphill climbs! I hope Lucie doesn’t get sick. I hope no mice eat my things tonight.
Hope, hope, hope.
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