Day 121

Highway 140 to campsite near spring junction - 31 miles

Total - 1805.9 miles

Woke up miserable as one does when the continually wake up at 5:30 am to walk for 12 hours non stop. I thought I was down bad but one look at Marc made me realize I was actually in a good mood. He was not feeling it this morning so I tried to cheer him up. He jokingly tried to convince to go to Medford but I rejected his takes and made him walk. We walked together and talked about how he was feeling. Truly it’s so impressive he even got back on trail after marrying the love of his life. Don’t know if I could do it but we had a short day of 26 miles and I fully mean that pretentiously. We booked it 11 miles to the first water source of the day where we filled up and ate a lil snack. Marc was feeling better at this point especially after his morning duece lol. I carried on a lil before him and hiked 5 miles to our lunch spot. Really nothing to report here as it was a green tunnel coming in and out of dead zones with a ton of blowdowns which were testing my patience. Not the easy blowdowns either but the ones it feels like you have to walk a mile around just to get back to trail. Brutal. We stopped for lunch and took one of those naps where you aren’t sure if you actually fell asleep. Very relaxing making me not want to hike anymore but we 9 miles left in our day to top off the 26. I again cruised ahead and finally got out of the green tunnel and up a large hill that provided some scenery besides trees. Don’t get me wrong I love trees as we haven’t had a lot of them but the views from above are always spectacular. I was going to attempt to not grab water from the ponds but with the heat of the day and the steady uphill I had downed my water forcing me to make the side trek 0.2 down to the ponds. When I arrived I immediately recognized a familiar face of Ben from Boston who had gotten off trail for a side quest in the boundary waters with his dad and uncles. I was delighted and the morale was boosted. We talked and caught up before heading back to the trailhead where I left my pack where we baked in the sun for ten minutes continuing our chit chat. Eventually I had to get moving as Marc had passed me so we scurried on our way up the last uphill. All on shale and in the bright sun, creating a waterfall on my back and drenching my ass with sweat causing the worst ass chafe. I looked stupid holding one ass cheek away from the other trying to get some relief. I will need to buy the anti chafe stuff that everyone else has on trail. I would ask to get a hit but I don’t want to go asscheek to asscheek with Marc or even a stranger. Nasty. I got to camp where Marc was posted up and immediately got the proposal to go 3.5 miles farther. I was down of course as I felt good (besides my asscrack) and it would cut off miles to go into crater lake tomorrow. More time to chill. We decided to eat dinner and then head out. Tonight was two ramens with olive oil and Thai chili tuna which was exactly what my body needed…3180 mg of salt. I messed up my poop schedule so had another mid dinner poop because I know all of you were dying to know. Drank another liter before heading out. We caught up to Ben from Boston who passed us and caught up with Marc at dinner. He convinced us to go another mile bringing our total to 31 miles flat. We were happy to do it as we felt good especially since he was such a huge morale boost for both of us and again, cold bevs were waiting for us at the crater lake resort. Tomorrow water carry will suck but at least we are going into civilization so I can’t complain. It also brings our mileage down overall as we are only going in and out of the village so I’m estatic about that.

On another note I lost my glasses in Shasta but found new ones on the ground today which I am claiming. Plus they are way cooler and cuntier than my last ones. Hopefully I don’t lose these ones.