Day 70

Mammoth to campsite - 14ish miles (some off trail miles again)

Total - 917 miles

Woke up to the noise that sounded like someone from upstairs was bouncing a ball. I think it was something outside but boy was it annoying. It was early which always pisses me off when we have time in the mornings. Laid for awhile before getting up and doing all the chores and organizing I should’ve done the day before. The best part though is I have like no stuff so cleaning and packing truly only takes 30-45 minutes in the airbnbs. Dad and I decided to hit the bakery before going to the post office to send our spikes and ice axes home officially. Walked our way to the bakery…way too far aka 1.2 miles but while in town you try to do the least amount of miles possible. Today we failed. As we stepped out the door we found Marc talking to family and I convinced him to come with us. Then we officially started walking. The bakery was packed. I got three chocolate crossiants (1 for me and 2 for Louisa as she was kind enough to pick us up after our chores), cinnamon roll, sausage egg crossiant sandwich, and raspberry Yerba mate. I demolished it besides the cinnamon roll. I saved that for later. Made our way to the post office and sent every home. Then Louisa picked us up. We cleaned a lil before our check out time of 10am. Dad and I were on the first shuttle aka Louisa dropped us off with Marc and Klara. Trail days was happening at the parking lot so we got cookies, stickers and I got to write a post card to mom. We also saw Daniel and Barbara whk we have been leap frogging for awhile and talked to them for awhile. Then we started. Dad and I were talking for awhile before I noticed we had been going downhill for more than I remember. I checked my maps and we had taken the wrong trail. Good thing though as it was an easier trail as it was mostly downhill, it still connected to the pct, and it cut off about 2 miles. I couldn’t be happier. We met this dad and daughter duo. He was trudging along and mentioned his daughter a little bit behind him. We talked a lil and he was great. I loved his energy as it was just I wanna be outside with my daughters. He said they were going 0.6 miles per hour. His daughter Finn, just moseys, picks up sticks, collects flowers and puts them in her Fanny pack and lives life. She is 7 years old and the tiniest little girl, covered in dirt and the biggest smile on her face, looking happy as a clam. He had a dog too who was the cutest. About 5 minutes later we see her just slowly moving along. They were doing a week long backpacking trip and fishing along the way. He yelled out to her to ask how many fish she caught and she yelled back “18!” She comes up and I tell her how cool she is and she just goes…”yeah” with a little head nod. Love the confidence as she should. Such a badass. We then got movin again and cruised right back on trail. We passed devils post pile which is basalt rocks. Cool but we apparently have a ton in Washington. There were two stream crossings as well. First one wasn’t bad but we did spend a good amount of time looking for a way across without getting our feet wet. The second, the bridge had collapsed so we had to cross under it. Right after we get across, I lost my footing a little a snagged a tree branch that cut into my foot. Bleeding but nothing too bad. As I was cleaning my foot, I see the bard strolling up. Apparently everyone had taken the wrong route (Marc had and I texted him which he didn’t realize until I said something) but the bard just continued on the road instead which allowed him to catch up us so quickly. He started about an hour behind us as he was in the second shuttle. We ate lunch together before we headed out. There were not a lot of people of trail it felt like. We didn’t see anyone besides maybe him and another guy on the official pct. We had a little more climbing to do before we hit our campsite. We got there first. Initially I was so confused because I felt like Marc should’ve been ahead of us or caught up to us as he is so fast. He ended up hiking with Klara all day which I heard was a blast but I didn’t know that initially so it stresses me out a lil not knowing what happened to him. The bard got to the campsite and started setting up but then had the mishap of accidentally removing his zipper from the tent. Which I know I described that horribly but basically the zipper just slipped off. So we spent the next hour and a half attempting to get it back on. We did but then the teeth wouldn’t close on each other like normal. I had to take a step back and eat dinner before continuing. So that’s what we did. Cheddar potato soup was delicious with some pouch meat. Slowly, gourmet, Marc, and Klara showed up and we made a lil circle to make food. It was getting cold so now I’m here catching up on all my entries while they work on the zipper. We made a plan for tomorrow as well. It is also so windy again, but the trees and blocking most of it. It’s mostly just loud. I also have no rain fly on mainly becuase initially it was warm, now it’s cold but since everyone decided to spawn to our campsite (5 people not in our group) Marc is camped next to me and there is no space for a rain fly. I’m not complaining though! I offered so I can’t complain. It really isn’t that bad. The trees and swaying though a lot but it’s mostly just noise. The weather app says 43 mph gusts tho. Anyways, I’m excited to sleep. Also, forgot to mention, we have service at the campsite so we were able to call mummi for a happy birthday!

I forgot to mention dads updated plan. With the zeros that we took it would be pushing it to make it to Sanora pass, mile 1018, in just 5 days. It would be 19 mile days and that’s not fun especially when you want to see the area and take your time. Also initially mom was going to pick him up but timing doesn’t work out, and truly we wouldnt want her to drive 12 hours down and then 12 hours up back to back with only a “hi, I love you” then leave. So now the new plan is dad is going to tuolomne meadows and getting a hitch into Lee vining, taking a bus to Reno, and a flight back home. It gives him plenty of time just in case things go wrong. He needs to make a tour next Friday. It just sucks to not finish the original plan but I get it at the same time. Wish he could stay for the full thing. It feels like we just got into the groove of things, flying up on the uphills, cruising the downhill, and everything else in between. But I am just happy he was able to get out here and im super grateful to share the experience with him. And I can’t wait to share the experience with Nathan and mom!