Day 73

Glen Aulin Sierra camp to Wilson creek campsite - 17 miles

Total - 966.5 miles

It started out a tough day. A whole bunch on inconveniences that compounded to me breaking down mentally a lil bit. My pad the entire night was deflating as usual. I kept waking up every two hours: 8pm, 10pm, 12pm until I gave up on looking at the time. I fell asleep and woke up at 8 super confused as it was still light out and I couldn’t figure out if I slept in till 8am or it was 8pm. It was 8pm. My period is going still, my body hurts, my dad is gone. I started hiking alone after eating a lil bit and it was so strange. For the past three weeks I’ve always had him in earshot. I was always hiking with someone. And now I had no one. I know I have my group but we all kinda hike separately throughout the day. It was just hitting me hard so I was struggling and crying a lil bit knowing that I am all by myself again. Caleb caught up to me and asked me how I was doing and i immediately broke down. Then I lost a eye contact. That put me over the edge. He gave me a hug and kinda just reassured me that we’ve got this which was helpful. We then hiked the next 6ish miles together which was pretty level, only gradually going up hill. Crossed a couple of rivers before we hit the first uphill where I lost him as he pushed forward. That was rough as well. Steep switchbacks, over and over and over again. I took like 20 breaks, catching my breath. At the top there was a pristine lake, but I didn’t stop as I knew there was rain coming and I just wanted to get to camp early and take a nap. A steep downhill later and I caught back up to Caleb just before a river crossing. Sat for a short bit filtering water and getting eaten alive by mosquitos particularly on the face. It felt like we were slapping each other in the face constantly. Then it was the final push to the campsite. Brutal as well plus I was just hitting my wall. Couple more river crossings without getting the feet wet and we made it to the campsite by 12:45 officially outpacing the rain. That’s the fastest time I’ve done 17 miles. Left camp around 5:50ish. Pretty darn impressive at elevation and doing 3,500+ of elevation gain. Which doesn’t seem like a lot to y’all but try doing that with 30+ pounds on your back and doing it everyday for months straight plus I was on my period. Goddamn superwoman. Plus it’s usually 1000 feet over a mile and a half which is hella steep. We immediately set up our tents. Marc wasn’t there bc he pushed on 0.4 but we promised klara we wouldn’t switch the campsite so Caleb and I stayed to the original plan. I made lunch in my tent before listening to my audiobook and getting a lil nap in. I woke up to hail pounding down on my tent and lightning and thunder. For the next 2ish hours I was listening to the putter patter of hail which was just lovely. After it stopped we came out to talk but it’s so cold EVEN THOUGH ITS FUCKING JULY PRACTICALLY, that we headed back into our tents. Around 6ish I decided to cook even though I wasn’t hungry. Chickpea curry. Needed salt but good otherwise. Klara showed up then. She had hiked in the cold rainy hail. What a beast but sounded so miserable. They posted up in front of my tent as I had cooked in my vestibule so I was warm under my quilt while they sat outside. No regrets on my part. Now it’s bed time. I am tired and we have another big day tomorrow. OOF! Still in Yosemite though!