Mile 1038.3–1056.7 (18.4 miles)

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Rose: hiking with a good group of people, Ziggy Thorn: not really hiking my own hike today Bud: experiencing waking up early with a group of early birds, seeing how that suites me

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I slept in a little. I think the 20 mile day took its toll. I snoozed until six so not a big delay. After packing up, I had a couple items that needed a wash, which I had forgotten to wash at KMN. I sloshed them around with some soapy water in a gallon ziploc bag, wrung them out, and strapped them to the outside of my pack to dry.

Not long after starting hiking for the day, Ziggy, Blue, Ash, and Pepe caught up with me. I instantly fell in line with Ziggy. He was a wonderful, cheerful dude who I happily met in the desert. With the old bubble catching up with me, I was excited to find Ziggy again. He’s a recently-retired Navy guy who just has interesting stories and the cheeriest attitude. He’s a little on the slow side, but I don’t mind for good company.

I ran with that crew for the rest of the day, as much for the good company as to see another group’s routine. I stopped and had lunch with them. Hiked with Ziggy in the morning then Blue in the afternoon (for a bit. She’s fast.).

As we near Tahoe, we’re getting more cell coverage on ridgelines. We’ve been checking at lodging options in Tahoe (ie expensive and mostly booked for a Saturday night). Ziggy made half a dozen loud, enthusiastic calls to old Navy and high school buddies trying to get us a cabin, to no avail. Near the end of the day I called Casey for a bit. He sounded cheery with some exciting medicals recently.

Our campsite is on a small bump out between two creek valleys. It’ll offer up an amazing sunrise view. This crew wakes up early. My early lately has been 5:30. They do five and are on trail by six. I’ll try it out, see if that schedule fits. That’s something that’s great about this trail; you can try out different techniques, gear, styles and really hone in on what suites you uniquely.