Day 71

(Originally written on Tuesday, July 14)

After today's 24 miles, I'm left with a mere 10.5 to go before Echo Lake, my next town stop. In case you didn't know by now, town stops are a big deal to the PCT hiker. We are unable to carry enough food to compensate for the calories we burn, which is why most of us lose weight. So anytime we get to a town, we generally settle in for a substantial feast. I am no exception to this rule and so I'm planning--along with Tom and Cobie, who I've reconnected with--to be on the trail by 6 am tomorrow in order to get to Echo Lake while breakfast is still being served. Assuming I'm successful, then I'll stick around for lunch too! No matter how much I'll eat, I'll likely have it burned off before the end of the day. I'll also grab enough food to get me another 32 miles up the trail, where I'll head east to Lake Tahoe and some time off. Considering how tired my feet (and the rest of my body) are and how long it's been since I've seen Adrienne (nearly three months), you can guess that I'm counting down each mile!

As for today's hike, we were on the trail by 6:30 and had an uneventful day consisting of the usual ups and downs, various creek crossings, and beautiful views. In the afternoon we came to Carson Pass, named for Kit Carson. There the folks at the information center gave us water, Oreos, and bananas. It was awesome. Once we left in the late afternoon, we were planning to go another 7ish miles to Showers Lake. Soon after a short climb following Carson Pass came the best hiking of the trail yet. It was a flat, winding trail through a meadow without mosquitos! It was so nice and such a change from what we've grown accustomed to recently. Of course it was short-lived and soon we were faced with a steeper-than-expected climb up to Showers Lake where we are now. Even more disappointing was the re-emergence of the voracious mosquitos. Even though they are small, they definitely have the capacity to take the luster off a good day.