Miles 759.2 to 767.0 Plus.. 1.1 side trail to Crabtree Ranger Station

The say started immediately with a creek crossing, followed by a steep incline (at least by PCT) standards…I had slept in since I only had about 8 miles I could go today and I took my time… catching my breath every couple of yards…trying to wake my legs up… again, they were protesting the climb and the altitude… I grew frustrated with them at every step… how was I going to make it up Whitney and the other passes, when I had to stop what seems like every 40 yards… I was mad at myself for feeling weak… I struggled up the hill… and again immediately felt accomplished (albeit slow and old) and motivated… slow and steady I told myself… it’s not a race… I repeated the words of a friend trying to qualm the natural competitor inside of me…

The day continued with some heavy climbing… and little descent… about 4 miles in… I saw my first hiker on this stretch… he was huffing and puffing up the hill behind me… maybe not as slow as me, but for some reason it made me feel better, probably because he looked to be in his early 20s, by the way he walked i could tell this wasn’t his first rodeo…happy to rest under the guise of moving out of his way… I introduced myself as he got in earshot… his name: Puppy the Dragon Slayer… yes he had hiked the AT and he was from just north of Birmingham, Alabama… and he came out with the truth right away… “this is hard”… relieved that it wasn’t just me… I followed him up the hill… each of us taking breaks to catch our breath as we needed it… when the trail began to level out… his speed gave him a big lead… but I was joyous in the fact that it was hard even for a youngin’.

I reached Crabtree Meadows… and there was Scout and Wingit, just finishing their Whitney Summit and soaking their feet. They stayed for dinner at camp before getting in a couple of extra miles to set themselves up better for the next day. We talked plans… they were getting off at Kearsage in two days… I was still unsure… I considered skipping Whitney so I could just stick with them… it was so nice to laugh and joke with the two of them… my ego protested loudly… “skip Whitney? What is wrong with you? no way!” it resounded, burying the thought.

They left shortly after eating.. and as the sun was headed down… I finally placed the feeling that had been following me since leaving Lone Pine… I was lonely and to be honest with myself… for the first time in my life I was a little homesick. It wasn’t homesick in that I wanted to be home… it was homesick and that I wanted someone to share this part of the experience with… anyone would do I pondered, but in reality I wanted to share this with someone named Charlie… it had been almost a month since I had seen him… different ideas started formulating in my head about my “Sierra” plan.