Day 111

Here I am camped beside Highway 140 listening to the hum of the traffic whizzing by. Today was an atypical day. Tried to get up early but just couldn't. By the time I packed up, washed my socks from the day before in Howard Prairie Lake (the water was warm!), and loaded up with water, it was already 8:30. I hate starting that late. Nevertheless, I chugged along. The terrain was a little tougher than what I was expecting so that was disappointing. Then I started to get a hot spot on the ball of my right foot again, just like the last time I started wearing a new pair of shoes around Lake Tahoe. It made me wince during every step, but I kept going, hoping that somehow it wouldn't get worse. When I got to Dead Indian Road around 1, I had decided--along with some other hikers--to take an alternate route that would take me by additional water sources and is generally more pleasant and picturesque than the PCT in this section. Lakes and ponds vs. lava fields...hmmm...tough decision! (While I was having lunch, a stupid yellow jacket got inside my shirt and stung me. First time all trip.) The downside of the alternate route is that it required walking on a road for about 8-9 miles. It's nice to not have to worry about obstacles, but the continuous pounding gets to be a bit much after a while. When I was about 0.25 mile away from the road that went to the Lake of the Woods resort, I was offered a ride the rest of the way, but I declined because I haven't skipped (besides for the fire) any miles yet and I don't intend to start now. After a relatively short stop at the resort to buy a soda and recharge my phone, I struck out on the trail once again, still on the alternate route. But I only got about 1.5 miles before deciding that I just really didn't have my best effort in me and with only 1 hour of daylight left, I made camp. I'm hoping that maybe a full, good night's rest will help me get up in the morning early enough to get some decent mileage in. Fingers crossed.

In other news, I'm now less than 900 miles away from finishing!

In still other news, my fundraising went over $8000 today! Thanks Cherri and Mom and Dad!