Day 88

Five lakes creek to truckee - 17.5 miles

Total - 1154.5 miles

Ben from Boston said he was GOING to wake up at 4:30 to hit the trail. His alarm went off…then went off again 10 minutes later and then my alarm went off at 5:20. We left camp around 6, me and Caleb. Guess who was still in bed? Ben from Boston lol. Such a silly guy. The first climb of the day I felt good as fuck. Caleb and I cruised up it reaching the palisades ski resort and walking under all the ski lifts. Second climb was a lil more brutal but we made it. It was hella steep with practically no water for the 8 miles. Once we peaked, I was cruising behind Caleb. We met presto who is a super nice girl that we leap frogged yesterday. Great energy from her. I was listening to music while singing to myself while trying to catch Caleb. I didn’t as he had caffeinated and when he does he ZOOMS. We were advised to not cross the snowy section by this day hiker as well as Marc who did this section a couple days before us. After climbing a lil bit and grabbing some snacks we finally made it to the snow field and it looks BAD. I didn’t see any boot tracks and even though it was a short snowpack it was a steep drop off into the dirt. If you fell you would be falling 30 feet down at a rapid pace. Instead we climbed up a VERY steep hill to the top of a ski slope. My only goal was not to stop, which I didn’t but I was going very very slowly. Caleb and I then cruised to the bottom. We were about 2 miles from the road when I picked up the mother fucking pace. When I tell you I was flying…I was flying. Caleb couldn’t keep up as I hopped and skipped from rock to rock at 4 miles per hour with a 40 ounce beer in my eyes. I was ready to be done. I would stop for dogs and dogs only. We set a timer for 30 minutes for 1.5 miles and I beat it by 7 minutes. I loved it. No poles too just pure dedication and balance. We got to the bottom and immediately went to go claim our 40 oz free beers and grab a meal before heading into town. Sadly they didn’t have the full 40oz bud lite bottles as they ran out but we did get two 20oz cups which went straight to my head. I was finding EVERYONE attractive in that bar. Everyone was a hiker and smelled like shit with dirt covering every inch of them so you know my standards have dropped. After a very expensive mediocre meal we grabbed a hitch from a nice young lady and her dog to the post office. Caleb got his third tent on trail and I mailed home some Fourth of July stuff and some other things I could drop. I did forget to mail two things so I gotta do that at the next stop. We then had to WALK to grocery outlet like a 1.1 mile walk. Omg I was pissed. Caleb called Maia while I was sweating my ass off leading the way. We did stop at a gear store and I got new toe socks, sunscreen, and a truckee sticker. We got a quick resupply from grocery outlet. I got mochi which was so fucking good. I haven’t had that in so long and I missed it dearly. A lady offered to drive us to our campsite for the night but had us running around with our heads cut off as she kept telling us to meet her in different places. Finally we got to the campsite which was incredibly shitty as it had no room for tents, and it was right by the restroom. They did give us free shower tokens though. I was in a foul mood. Caleb and I had been together for 48+ hours straight, hiking together and being each others only entertainment as we were faster than the group for majority of the days. I was hangry, and ready to rip someone’s head off and boy did he fucking know it. Finally we decided to get Zano pizza which Ben from Boston got a hitch into our campsite and then picked us up to go there. The pizza was good but again like all california towns so goddamn expensive. It did heal the angry thoughts though. I was telling Caleb that we need to either make new friends if people can’t catch up due to injury or other reasons OR we force our current friends to catch up because we might rip each others heads off. You can only talk about so much when you have been together for so long. Luckily, after pizza and a hitch back to camp, Louisa had made it with gourmet to camp like the badass she is pushing through pain and suffering all for me. Jk but imma go with that anyways. It was a quick debrief before heading to bed.

Notes on other people:

Ben from Boston ended up attempting the snowfield which was crazy. Apparently he took two steps before falling the 30 feet and ramming into the dirt and mud. Luckily he was safe and sound as now we can laugh about it. Best part though was he had all his snow gear: ice axe, and spikes - in his bag while he potentially fell to his death. Glad he is okay though.

Rocklicker was an absolute unit. He had been trying to catch up to us as he started from Carson pass instead of echo lake which was 15 miles back. So he did 38 miles that day. He did 38 whole stopping for a two hour break for trail magic breakfast. I am baffled truly with the dedication.

Also on another note: went over tinkers knob which personally, love the name.