Mile 283.9 to Mile 298.5

Today was another great day. I woke up feeling good and excited to get some more miles in. I had set out a schedule for this week because I needed to get to a certain mile by Wednesday to be in a place where Charlie could pick me up and bring me back home for my J&J vaccine appt on April 15th. I was already a day ahead of schedule... the idea of wiggle room felt great...

I was still between Nathan and RumRunner (his dad) and other than HipShot haven’t seen any other thruhikers in this section.... yet, I have come to really enjoy the days hiking by myself and enjoying everything around me...

It was another day of mainly desert hiking and pretty easy trail... the temps are getting warmer - but my body is adjusting and I am learning how to utilize break times to better serve what my body is telling me it needs.

I didn’t really have a set mileage plan for the day... so when I crossed a bridge over Deep Creek at mile 298.5 around 4:30 and went to fill up on water and check out the privies (which were locked) at Splinter’s Cabin - I wasn’t planning on stopping to camp... but the sounds of the frogs and the creek drew me in. Hipshot was filling up on water too and said he was moving on a few miles... I set up camp right next to the creek... and had a lazy evening.

Dinner was a tortilla wrapped around tuna, rice with dehydrated veggies and some Doritos for crunch and flavor.... I soaked my feet and made some tea... crawling into my tent at sundown to nature’s chorus of water and wildlife (my own personal sleepsound machine) - overall it was a nice and relaxing day.