Day 90

I-80 rest stop to campsite - 27.2 miles

Total - 1185.8 miles

I know we were by a highway but the cars never stopped coming last night. Blew up my pad once bc I felt like I was obligated to. Woke up to my alarm and quickly turned it off to get my ass moving. Caleb was already outta the tent so we packed up together and then harassed the other guys to get moving. Ben from Boston’s response was to undo his blow up pad to make himself move and Rocklicker stated he’s going to sleep a lil longer. A lil longer meant as we found out later was 3 more hours. We had a lot of up and down today but it was in short bursts which was genuinely one of the best things ever. Right as you were getting sick of the climb we would top off and start heading down. In the morning thought there was some first signs of smoke. Around etna there is a pretty big fire which I am assuming the smoke is from. The entire day, Caleb and I leap frogged each other. I felt so good. We did about 15+ before noun. We grabbed water and met slow and steady and talked to them for awhile. The next stretch was a breeze and of course gorgeous as per the pictures show. We stopped for lunch after the second to last climb and lounged around on some rocks like lil mountain people. I had to muck today as I am getting a resupply from Sierra city and I have way too much food. By lunch I’ve eaten so much and I still had to keep going. Decided to do two dinners tonight at that point. Lunch was around 20ish miles and once I hit 22 miles I was officially hurting despite feeling so goddamn good earlier. My joints were hurting the most - ankles, knees and hips. Actually, my back/hip injury did not hurt at all today. It was glorious. But my joints hurt. I trudged on though with sad music playing in my ears. Finally after the last climb and long descent, we made it to a river that was swimable. Caleb and I plunged in quickly as the deer flies quickly dove onto us. I got ants all over my legs though as I brushed on a plant wirh a million of them. It felt so good to clean up and just soak. I washed my sun hoody to get some salt of back and maybe clean it a lil. We lounged in the sun for awhile before we had enough and wanted to be in camp. It’s a dry camping night so we had to refill our cnocs and carry them 0.5 miles. I was so clean after the river swim and I immediately got covered in dust and sweat to create a nice thin layer of paste on my body once again. Truly awful. Also my ankles have been itching so badly the past couple of days but I don’t have mosquito bites on them so my theory is I have an allergy to merino wool like my mom. I have a slight hive on my ankles and I can tell you that shit sucks. Itching it is probably one of the top feelings ever. Anyway, got to the campsite and started eating immediately as I had some work to do. Ate a snickers, biscoff, pretzels, candy, garnola bar, and first dinner of chicken pesto pasta (920 cal) for probably a total of 1500 calories. A lil later I had soup, chicken, and ramen totaling around 400. I calculated it out and I probably ate around 4500-5000 calories today. I did not stop eating. I burned probably 4000 so I maybe broke even. I haven’t eaten that much in so long. Normally I can’t stomach it but we did smoke so that gave me the munchies real quick. Ben from Boston showed up and we got a text from rock licker that he took two dinners. Despite being 6’3” the man acts like a hobbit. Never know what he’s gonna do. The mosquitos started coming out and I’m so tired so into bed early like usual. Might not even blow up my mattress but we will see and report back tomorrow. Rocklicker isn’t in camp. Probably will be asleep when he does get here. My left knee (the one that I fell on) stiffened the fuck up once I stopped hiking today so I’m taking ibeprofen to counter it. It’s not a sharp pain but just so incredibly stiff so I’m not too worried about it. No swelling from what I can tell. Hoping it feels better tomorrow!

The heat waves are coming again. Today was high 80s and I was sweating like a pig. For the next couple of days it’s supposed to be in the 90s and it’s humid, burn zones, and a whole bunch of other inconveniences. UGHHHHHHH

Also it was Emily’s birthday today and I was able to text her with my limited amount of service.