Mackenzie’s now been on trail officially a month and it shows. She’s been crushing miles and seems to be feeling really great.

We got up this morning at Miller Lake to no bugs. Our tent was soaked with dew and condensation but no bugs. We took full advantage as we enjoyed a logg by breakfast while our things dried off. Tiber left before us and we wouldn’t see him until dinner.

After a relaxing morning we knew we had a tough day. Two passes that equalled a total of 4,000 feet of elevation gain in 6 miles. Brutal climbs but we all seemed to just embrace the climb and made it up to our first pass - Benson Pass - for lunch. It was a long lunch as all three of us fell asleep after eating. We met a couple from Canada, originally from England, and played leap frog with them most of the day. The views have begun to transition into a much more dry landscape similar to that of the start of the Sierra - a hint if desert in this biome. The sun was palpable but we stayed cool for most of the day under the shade of trees.

In the afternoon, we had our first real rain storm, hail and everything. We threw on our pack covers and rain gear and kept walking. After descending two thousand feet, we stopped at the bottom to load up on snacks before our next climb up to Senora Pass. This climb was definitely difficult but seemed less strenuous than our first. As we were approaching the pass, we noticed thunder and dark clouds rolling in so rather than push to the exposed pass, we huddled under a rock cave and let the storm blow over. While we waited we enjoyed our dinner, at least most of us. The ‘mountain grits’ I got in Yosemite were pretty terrible, in fact the worst meal on trail so far.

After dinner, we pushed three more miles to our campsite at roughly mile 980. Tomorrow, we’ll hit mile 1,000. Crazy.

Happy trails…