Day 27 (May 31)

Wow...I can't believe tomorrow is only the first day of June! So much has happened this month that it is hard to believe that not even a month has passed. It's even harder to believe that I've only tamed 373 miles of this beast! But I'm trying to stay focused on the big picture. Really, even with my slow start due to injuries, blisters, etc., I'm only six days off my original pace. I know that sounds like a lot, and it is, but considering how I started it is pretty good.

Anyway, this morning I started out at about 5100' and decided to reward myself for my high mileage with a day of sleeping in. So I got up at 6 instead of 4. It felt wonderful. My body has seriously been protesting the mileage I've been putting in, and after getting through the really hot areas so quickly, I'm giving it a bit of a break...but not too much. Today was an 18-mile day and tomorrow will be about a 13-mile day but with a very steep climb up to the peak of Mt. Baden-Powell at 9399'. (Mt. Baden-Powell is named after the man who founded the Boy Scouts.) Then on Tuesday, it should be a relatively uneventful day of hiking around 6000'.

So even though I'm not sticking with the high mileage, my body is still getting a workout!

Tonight I'm camped in Grassy Hollow Visitor Center/Camp and enjoying the luxuries of an outhouse and a water spigot. Ah, the simple things in life! Rees and Taylor, a couple of section hikers who I've been passing and getting passed by for the past week or so are camped here too. The weather is clear but cold and they were gracious enough to share their soup with me (I'm hiking without a stove until the Sierras) so that helped get me warm!

It's only 8:33 now and I've already been in bed for about 20 minutes. There's really not much else to do. Tomorrow we're planning to take off around 6:30 am. Hopefully my legs won't feel too much like jelly during the steep climb of Mt Baden-Powell.