Disclaimer: I realize how behind I am in updating my blog. I have journaled about this section, but have since sent that journal home as it was full. I’ll write about more stories after I am back! Until then, here’s a little snippet of what happened. Enjoy!
This stretch went by so fast for me. My shin splints completely healed, my legs felt great! I found my stride and really started pushing miles, hitting 27-30 miles each day. I felt faster too and could still take a long break in the middle of the day.
I met many people, but mainly hiked with a group of guys: Godongo, Acuna, Mellow, Grimm and Rubber Ball. Occasionally I would run into Priceless, who was section hiking but keeping up with all of us. Most of the time, I would only see these people during my day. It felt much lonelier than the desert, as it seemed we were the only ones out here.
At Burney Mountain Ranch, I decided to nero. At the middle of the day, Jupiter, Protein and Sonya came walking up! This was the first time I had seen them since Bishop. It was great seeing them all, but I had found my stride and didn’t hike with them out. Northern California allowed me to hike my own hike and I just traveled the speed I wanted.
A week before getting into Etna, I lost the o-ring on my water filter, making it useless. All the guys were not filtering, so I went along too. Really testing my luck on getting giardia.
On July 16th, I arrived at Etna. Although I would be taking two full days off in Ashland in four days, I decided to take a day off here. After pushing myself to do almost 30 miles each day, I was tired and needed the rest.
I stayed with a trail angel, Kate. She had an amazing setup for hikers and provided our own kitchen and bathroom. It was so wonderful to actually cook some meals. I also weighed myself, 110 pounds! So far, I’ve lost 15 pounds on this journey and my pelvis is jutting out everywhere. It is getting uncomfortable to sleep on the foam mattress because of this. My shorts are also falling off of me.
You must be logged in to post a comment.