Day 84

Today was another very long, yet productive, day. When I finally stopped tonight, the sun had just gone down and I had logged about 31 miles. At this point, I'm 55 miles shy of Belden, the official end of Central California (for the PCT, anyway), and around 95 miles short of the trail's midway point. After today and the way my body feels, I'm wondering how I'm going to hike another 55 miles in two days! But I keep thinking about a hot shower and a real bed in Belden courtesy of the local trail angels, and it is a motivating factor for sure!

Speaking of trail angels...Magic Man is my hero! He is BooBoo's dad and is here for a couple of weeks supporting her thru-hike effort. He's the guy who gave me a ride back to the trail after my time off in Lake Tahoe. I saw a PCT sticker on a truck's bumper and left a note and that's how I met Magic Man. Anyway, after slugging out my 31 miles today, I came to a road where I was planning to camp because water was nearby. When I came around the corner, there it was...Magic Man's blue ice chest! It was the best moment of the day for me. The ice cold Coca-Cola was the perfect thing for me! It was a real boost of the spirit after a very negative encounter earlier. I won't get into it except to say that all the reasons for why current thru-hikers around where I am now (and presumably myself included) won't make it to Canada was explained to me. I definitely could have done without that.

But the good news is still that Magic Man cam through for me!