Day 75: mile 1036.2 to mile 1060.4
6.29.18. 24.2 miles.
Today started off pretty annoying. I woke up around 3:30 am to a super runny nose, watery eyes, and sneezing. This never happens. I can tell it’s allergies and not a cold bc everything else is completely normal. It’s frustrating bc I took a Benadryl last night, which is becoming my new nightly routine. I immediately took a Claritin once I started sneezing, which I usually wait to take with my other morning meds. I was up for an hour blowing my nose. And I was pretty much a snotty mess for the rest of the morning.
I lost Hot Mess & Butters before our morning climb bc I needed to go to the bathroom/ change layers, and then I had service towards the top of the climb, but not the actual top, so I sat on my phone for a while. When I got to the top, they were still there, very comfortably chilling out on their phones. Hikers kind of live for phone service sometimes. We had such a nice view at the top too! We discussed where we wanted to eat lunch: at the road (highway 4), and maybe there would be a possibility of trail magic bc it’s a highway and a Friday? We were cautiously hopeful. All I usually want is a soda.
Once we were a mile from the road, we ran into some day hikers who casually informed us of the “food station” at the road for thru-hikers. We got SO EXCITED. We didn’t know what to expect, but we turned the gas on and booked it there. The trail magic was beyond all expectations. This was my first big trail magic since I-10 (around mile 200!) and it was incredible! All of the trail angels were so generous and talkative and cheered every time someone walked up. They wouldn’t stop feeding us! I had some bean salad, macaroni salad, a bacon cheeseburger w kale, fruit salad, an apple fritter, a slice of cheesecake, some Cheetos, a 7-Up and a Dr. Pepper. All in under 2 hours. I was pretty full. I also recognized the people who set everything up! I went to a PCT talk w my parents back in December in Auburn, and these guys were there sort of sponsoring the event! I recognized the main man, Alan, and he recognized me as well! It was such a fun afternoon socializing with all the hikers around us too. And with Hot Mess & Butters, especially since I would be separating from them today :(
We hiked on after the trail magic for a while until we reached the top of a climb where they were going to camp and said our goodbyes, but hopefully just “see you laters”. We all did math wrong on how long it would take, so they can’t get to South Lake Tahoe before the 2nd, and I want to be in Truckee on the 4th. So I need to hike farther, and they can’t. It was pretty sad saying goodbye to them. I’ve hiked with them the longest out of all the people I’ve hiked with, almost 600 miles! It’s going to be interesting the next few days to see how I am hiking alone. I’m going to miss them so much though! I almost felt like a little bird leaving the nest. I’m confident in the trail though. It manages to bring people together, even if you haven’t seen each other in weeks. So I know I’ll see them again, hopefully soon.
I continued onto my camp spot, only to find that the stream it’s by was dry, and I needed water, so I hiked another mile-ish to the next campsite with water. There were lots of people there, and thankfully room for me to pitch my tent. One of the guys was Ecstatic, who I met on the detour day after Wrightwood! I’d seen him in passing a few times since then, but it was nice to reconnect. I also met Upstream, and Flamingo was there, who I had met at Kennedy Meadows South. They had a fire going to keep the mosquitos at bay, and I joined them over dinner and chatted with everybody before retreating back to my tent for bed.