Little bear springs campground to willow creek - 20.4 miles

Total - 305.9 miles

This is the first morning I have woken up after the sunrise. We were gonna take it easy today as Marc and Christian were hurting and we are incredibly fast so we gotta chill it down. That’s didn’t happen. Our first stop was this creek that apparently you can swim in but one big toe in the water told me I can’t swim. Caleb and a couple of others hopped in screaming like lil sissy’s. I just soaked my feet to ice them out for the future miles. After that, I headed out before everyone fearing the 20 beasts would all try to leave at once from the water to start hiking. One thing about me is I rarely like hiking with other people as 1 - I can’t go my own pace as I feel like I’m being chased by a predator and 2 because I’m trying to find some goddamn peace and quiet. Pretty much for the next 6 miles I hiked along the creek which was absolutely fantastic for the ears, and the mind, and the eyes. Everything was dry but still lush. I was about a mile out from lunch before I heard this grunting sound and the swishing of the trekking poles. Caleb was practically running past me screaming over his shoulder he wanted to see how many miles he could do in 1 hour and he had 9 minutes left. The kid practically fast hiked 3.5 miles in one hour which is impressive. We met back up at a beautiful camp spot right under a walking bridge with the creek creating pools. Lunch was delicious of salami, cheese, tortilla and the most important part…mayo packet. Brings everything nicely together. Decided we were going to push 7.5 miles more as we didn’t want to camp at the hot spring because of the muggles, and the feral squirrels that apparently eat through backpacks to get to your food. We didn’t officially know if there were camp spots at this water source but we needed to try. Again we just followed the creek up on the ledge of the canyon. We kept seeing perfect swimming holes but no where to access. It also became muggy from the light rain showers and sun making me sweat like a bitch. We saw two baby rattlers and one big fat one which was terrifying as it didn’t fucking rattle again. The guy in front of us spotted both the babies and moved them with his trekking poles but I know for a fact I would’ve probably stepped on one if it wasn’t for him as those bitches blended in so well. We hit mike 300 as well! Super excited as we are almost halfway mileage wise to Kennedy meadows. The best part of the day was getting to oasis of a campground. Perfect streams of water pooling in the sun and cold enough where it felt icy but it didn’t burn. I finally got in and dunked which was divine and then I just laid in the water icing my feet, hip and back. Feet feel great now and the back is okay. This is easily the best camp spot we have had looks wise. I am worried a lil about food because people want to take a short day tomorrow but I didn’t plan for an extra day as I should have or I am just eating so much so I might have to ration my snacks a lil better until we get to the next resupply. Good news in a McDonald’s is coming up. Don’t like that shit normally but on trail it sounds like the best thing ever. I plan on hiking out a couple of burgers. Mouth is watering just thinking about it.