June 26th, 2024
Mile Marker: 221
Miles Hiked: 25
We woke up this morning with the sun shining between the trees and cool temperatures. I was happy that I slept relatively well, waking up around one and staying up for an hour until my eyelids got heavy. Paranoid as usual about grizzlies. Not sure it’ll go away unless we sleep in a larger group. 🤷🏽♀️
We headed out before 8 AM and were on a roll. The first 5ish miles were flat and easy and we all flew over the miles.
We came to this ranger station and decided to have a little photo shoot to spice up the day.
We had one large climb today followed by a few shorter ones near the Chinese wall.
After the first climb we came upon a lake with a beaver doing what I assumed was their morning patrol of their lake and/or enjoying the area all to themselves. I was hoping for a closer look but this was as good as it got.
We then came out of the trees into a huge opening of the Chinese wall. It was magnificent.
And the wildflowers surrounding the valley made an excellent contrast.
We found a huge boulder to have lunch by while enjoying the views and taking photos on top of the boulder.
We all then lounged around in the grass enjoying the hot sun and relaxing vibes.
After a bit the flies were becoming obnoxious and we knew we should make moves. We continued on the trail that paralleled the Chinese wall and found ourselves constantly looking up at it. It felt like it went on for miles.
The clouds looked dark in the distance and we kept a constant pace in hopes to make it to camp before it poured.
When we got to the top of our last climb we ran into Whatever who has been hiking with Fiona and Spirit Kick. It was fun to catch up and hear Whatever talk about his encounter with a grizzly. All the stories seem similar in that the bear walks towards them and once they realize the thing is human, they run away. Whatever said he talked in a calm voice and got his bear spray out.
I sometimes want to see one so that maybe I can get over the fear but then I also think I am okay if I never see one.
We headed down the mountain when the rain started and wished Whatever good luck. His feet have been hurting him real bad and he is hoping a new pair of shoes in Lincoln will help.
The rain was off and on for the rest of the afternoon and by the time we reached camp, it had completely stopped but we noticed clouds in the distance coming quickly. So we set up camp, made food, and ate as quickly as we could and thankfully the rain held off just as we were setting up our bear hang. Very lucky.
Today was a good day. My feet didn’t hurt as bad and we were all in good spirits.
We talked about a number of things from having good coaches, to sports growing up, to schooling, to Robot’s plan for engagement after trail, to much more.
Ross’s new trail name given by Journey is Mr. Robot since he works with robots. I gave him the name Excel and still wish he took it because he has made spreadsheets for everything in life, it’s quite hilarious.
Journey shared a sentiment again that proves true for most people on trail. That you get to know each other much faster than if you were to meet in real life. We have all day to talk about anything we want.
Even though my body is still sore and getting used to hiking everyday, days like today remind me of the good of thru hiking. Today was needed.
Iz and Oz
Izzy + Ozzy 