I woke around 6:30 today. It was so stupid hot at the place we stayed at last night. I didn’t even use a sheet until about 5am and even then it was just draped over my chest. Rugy had to have a meeting with work so I slept in until 8:30am which was really nice. We went to get breakfast and a few snacks for the next stretch. The burritos we got were so massive. We ate them with Obi-wan since we saw him there.

By the time we had the burritos and did our shakedown and sent home our warmer gear it was already around 11. It was 93° at 11am and we had a huge climb to do and friends to catch. Last night when Little Bag said “aren’t you out here to have fun?” it really stuck with me. I was feeling down still. Rugy and I decided to skip the climb and take the alternate PCT to camp. It was the old trail that had since been re-routed. We hitched and after an hour we had a ride up to Bassets which was a tiny general store. We begged a shuttle driver who had taken bikers up to the trailhead to take us. He did and was a very very nice guy.

We took the alternate for a bit and saw a huge fire in the distance. I could see the flames and watched it go from white to black smoke. It was far but didn’t seem out of reach for us. I hope it stays away.

We took a long and relaxing break and booked a place for us in Quincy and then headed on. The hiking was very easy. We eventually made it and met little bag and orange slice again. In total we’d skipped around 11 miles of the trail which I don’t regret. Today was fun, and that’s why I’m out here, right?