This day was long but rewarding: we finally caught up to another “bubble” of hikers after keeping up pretty significant miles! We spent the night with a much larger group at “Mikes place” where Mike did not show up. It’s an eclectic house and yard, filled with eclectic items that past PCTers have lovingly decorated, like an old car, a dilapidated bench press (just the bench part), house siding, and a full bucket of tar. Overall it was a lovely camping experience and we came away with some quasi-tyvek that we cut into a new ground sheet for our tent since ours was falling apart. Huge success!

Also, I finished my first audiobook and highly recommend it! The Tattooist of Auschwitz was incredible and the narration was particularly captivating.

Not much time for photos today as we hit our biggest miles yet at 22.

I hit my first “hiker’s high” at the perfect time and we sped our way up past the bubble of hikers through 2,500 feet of elevation gain, arriving at 18 miles by 2 pm at the next reliable water source. We had our first real siesta for two hours as we waited out the heat and at 4:15 took on the last four miles to the campsite.

The hikers high was phenomenal. It was the first time my leg cramps and sore feet eased up and I felt weightless. Not even the scorching heat could bring me down. Music helped tremendously, and we plan to capitalize on every last second of battery life we have to distract ourselves through the pain and heat and enjoy the trail.