July 22, 2017
Mile 1101.6 to Mile 1124.5 (near Barker Pass Trailhead)
Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike: Day 78

I can’t believe we’re only 71 miles from Tahoe, that’s insane. We have way too much food and are thinking of swinging by Soda Springs in 28/29 miles to ship some of it ahead, just so we don’t have to carry it. We just have so much extra food.

I think Alex is right about us getting gun shy, because the last two sections we ran out or nearly ran out of food. So now we way overplanned and are carrying the consequences.

Went over Dick’s pass today. It was the only part of the pass that was free of snow, and there were little pine trees all around with soft, pine-needle ground to sit on so we took a nice long break in the alpine sun. We had a beer, and a family of day hikers climbed to the top of the pass. They were friendly, saw the beer, and gave us plenty of side eye. I was so delighted to be sitting with pine trees on snow-free ground that I couldn’t be bothered to get moving quickly, so we stayed for an hour and a half, getting a nice nap in the middle.

We found out Flame is still behind us in Kennedy Meadows North. Sam said she had an infected toe—it turns out it started as an infected toe just before Mammoth and then started spreading, so her whole leg was inflamed. Yikes!

Also, talked to dad today, his birthday is tomorrow! I really really hope I have some service so I can talk to him on his birthday.

Tonight for dinner we had a campfire, found a campsite with a tiny patch of snow nearby (to chill the beer), had trail pizza, beer, and then s’mores for dessert! It’s getting warmer, so the snow was a lucky find. The snow is melting and the yellow and purple wildflowers are starting to bloom all around. We also made 24 miles today. We hustled! Heck yeah! And I found a place for us to get rid of trash in about 30 miles. All good things.