Day 100

(Originally written on Wednesday, August 12)

Occasionally on sports broadcasts you'll hear the term "tale of two halves". (Yes I'm aware that it does not have its origin in sports lexicon.)

Well, today was a day of two halves, or hikes. The morning was perfect--flat or with a gentle descent, smooth trail, and cool weather, of course. The afternoon and evening was...well...the opposite.

In order to get to the rendezvous point by 6 pm tomorrow to meet my parents, I needed a big, 30-mile day. So I was planning to do 15 miles in the morning, and 15 more after lunch. I was on the trail by 6 am and had reached the 15-mile mark by 11:10 am. Very fast by my standards! I hadn't stocked up with water because the campground where I was going to have lunch had some...or so I thought. It didn't, but some people camping there did and gave me some. And I definitely needed it because the next water was five miles away! Thanks Ray and Carolyn. I ended up actually eating my lunch there with them and visiting. It was quite nice and before I knew it, it was already 1:30. The afternoon hike was hot, dry, dusty, and was mostly uphill with rocky terrain. It was the complete opposite of earlier. But I managed to perservere, and when I got to the place where I was hoping to camp, I discovered the terrain was too steep, so I pressed on another mile. So for Day 100 on the trail, I celebrated by hiking 31 miles. I'm a wild and crazy guy!