Day 54 | mile 970.6 - 1000.3

Slept really well last night. I had fallen asleep with all my devices on waiting for a message. Woke up when the InReach rang at midnight. Turned everything off and slept until 5:30.

Opened the screen door and started water. 3 packets of peach oatmeal today. While the oatmeal was cooking, I got dressed. Was putting my hiking socks on when I realized I was missing a pair.

I alternate between hiking toe socks and liner toe socks + darn tough running socks. My hiking toe socks were still wet from yesterday, so I was planning on wearing the liner + running sock combo. Darn tough running socks were missing.

And now that I was thinking about it, I realized my wallet wasn’t in my puffy pocket like I thought it was. And I was missing my buff.

I turned my pack inside out looking for the wallet. Socks and buff I can live without, but going into town without a wallet was going to be tough. I panicked. I calmed down telling myself I don’t need any of those items immediately. Certainly i don’t need them to meet my goal for today. So I’m just going to focus on that.

I texted Forrest on the InReach asking him to call the hotel. Walking at 6:30. I couldn’t think about anything besides the wallet. Would I be able to check into the hotel? I didn’t bring enough food for another dinner tomorrow. Would I be able to convince someone to buy me a burger if I Venmo them?

Forrest replied a few hours later. They found it! It was by the lobby computer where Forrest and I were printing out a mailing label for my bear can.

Our plan was to overnight the wallet to Bridgeport. Unfortunately, there is only one person working at the Sierra Lodge. So she couldn’t mail it until the end of her shift - 3. It’s too late to overnight it at 3.

Forrest and I came up with a bunch of alternatives. We settled on him overnighting me a prepaid debit card and mailing the wallet to Redwood City. Phew. Breakfast burrito saved, crisis averted.



I kinda thought it would be an easy day today. But the ups and downs were surprisingly steep. Especially the first 17-ish miles.

There was a guy with dreadlocks in front of me on one of the uphills. He was wearing 2 pairs of torn long underwear and torn shorts, and a scarf around his head. Every so often he would moan audibly while touching a tree. And a couple of times he would just stop and make out with it for 10-15 seconds while I waited right behind him. I’m glad he was having what looked like a spiritual experience, I just wasn’t sure what to do myself. Finally got to pass him at a stream crossing.





I took a break at 2. I had eaten all my substantial snacks before 11. And I was starving. I ate an english muffin with cream cheese. And a bunch of Forrest’s trail mix.

The next section was swarming with mosquitoes. I’ve never seen that many anywhere else. My head net and wind pants totally saved me. I think I’m going to have nightmares about mosquitoes tonight.

I was doing a really good job of keeping my feet dry the second half of the day. I really wanted to camp with dry shoes. After Dorothy Pass, there were a few creeks to cross. At Cascade Creek, I was jumping rocks. My shoe slipped and I ended up in the water with a bloody knee and racing heart. Could’ve been much worse.





Camping with 3 guys tonight at 1000.3. Their names are Scuba Steve, Scarecrow, and Daniel-san. They had a small fire and they had already eaten. 2 of them were already in their tents hiding from mosquitoes. I made mac and cheese with cream cheese, a butter packet, a cheese stick, and bacon.

5550 of elevation gain today. So much for easy 30 miles. Only 16 miles to Sonora Pass now!