Day 91
Mile 1330 to mile 1357, 27 miles
Cost: camped, free

I woke up feeling really tired and not wanting to hike, my body just wanted to rest. I told the others I would take my time today and if they didn’t see me during the day then I would see them at camp. I had phone service so Howard and I chatted for a while as I packed up and then started to hike.

Dundee caught up to me and we hiked together for a while and I met a hiker called Nomad who I hadn’t met before.

My ankle hurt, I was tired and I started wondering how long our group will still be together for… We formed at Kennedy Meadows, almost 700 miles ago and I’ve had so much fun walking with everyone, but I’m the slow one with my sore ankle and I hate to think that I’m making everyone wait. I don’t have a problem doing the miles we decide on each day but I really have to start walking my own pace which means I’ll be a lot slower and will probably get to camp an hour or so later each day… I’m fine with this.

Mt Lassen

Can you see the trail?

I pass so many trees like this each day

I passed Drakesbad lodge without going to eat there as I still have plenty of dinners left and was planning to eat a dinner for lunch. I bumped into KC and Dundee sitting at a picnic table at a trailhead and I sat down with them to eat lunch. The trailhead had faucets and it felt like a special treat to fill up my bottles with a tap rather than taking ages to filter stream/river water.

I had a long, leisurely lunch and bumped into KC again so we walked the last 5 miles to camp together.

It was a great surprise to see Teflon & Shepherd at camp, it had been a week since we’d seen them and we were  trying to guess each day where they might be. Dundee was also at camp and we all had a fun night chatting before heading to bed, knowing that tomorrow would be a nero as we hiked into Old Station and would stay there the night to celebrate Mrs Smith’s birthday.