Day 104 Miles 1137-1154.5

I slept in until 7:30 this morning, with not very many miles to do and no rush to do so. It felt nice to not be in a hurry. I packed up my things, had my coffee and oatmeal and was out walking by 8:30.

My foot started hurting immediately. It started the day before, the muscle on my right foot below my big toe. It was like a constant cramp. I stopped a couple times the day before to rub it and had to do the same after not even a mile. It didn’t help much but the more I walked the more I was able to tolerate the pain & it fell into the background.

Early on I saw a lady and her dog who said that they had a bear at their tent that morning. I kept my eyes peeled but no bears appeared. I hiked down for a bit before the trail trended upward, climbing higher and getting a view of the ridge I had walked the day before.

The trail climbed up and up and heading towards a different ski resort. There was a large patch of snow just on the other side of the peak. I walked carefully down it and then got to another steep patch. I decided I would intentionally slide down on my butt to avoid unintentionally falling down it.

I made my way down and crossed underneath some chair lifts. There was still quite a bit of snow in patches on my way down.

I made my way down to the bottom, listening and sending some voice messages and treading carefully over the snow that remained. There were wonderful views all around as I descended.

I made it down and then started a climb back up towards Tinker Knob. I hiked up a mile before stopping and getting water at the last water source for 7 miles. The older couple I had been leap frogging with the last couple days was there. They introduced themselves as Paul and Elaine. They said they’ve been giving each other new trail names almost daily, one of their favorites so far was So Far & So Good. They are from Bellingham, Washington. They got going before me and I took my time filtering water and getting going again.

I started the climb up and after another steep 1.2 miles I was at the top. I took the wrong trail for a couple minutes before realizing.

I walked past Tinker Knob and found a nice exposed spot to eat some lunch.

After lunch I made my way down around another big peak. It was a very rocky path around the summit that lead to a snowy forest traverse on the other side.

After making my way through the snowy forest I pooped out on another ridge line. I walked through many wildflowers.

It was beautiful walking with a 360 view of the mountains and the valley below. I ran into a runner who warned me of a steep snowy section that could be avoided by going up the mountain towards the ski lift, the trail would reconnect after.

I got to the snowy part and decided to ignore the runners advice and get one last use out of my spikes and ice axe. I strapped up and made my way down. It was a verticle drop on the snow back to the trail so I got in my self arrest position and sat down on my butt and carefully and with control allowed myself to slide down.

It was a quick decent into a muddy pit but I made my way out and took off my spikes and put my ice axe back on my pack. I walked maybe .3/.4 of a mile before realizing one of my water bottles had fallen out of my pack. I thought about leaving it but I didn’t want to litter and it was the bottle with my electrolytes in it. I dropped my pack and went back for it. I felt so tired and sore already, it was proving to be a long and tiring day.

After I retrieved my water bottle I had 2.3 miles to go. It was downhill and I made my way slowly and steadily. I was going to go to the Donner Ski Resort where they give a free beer to hikers. Eventually I made it down and to the bar that wasn’t more than a couple hundred feet from where the trail spits you out.

Dinner Ski Resort gives a free 40 oz to thru hikers but they were out so I got two free beers from the tap instead. So Far and So Good were there as well as Lucas and his partner whom I had camped at the same spot a couple nights in a row. I drank my beers and did some phone things before walking across the street and up a hill to set up camp for the night. The next morning I would be meeting my boyfriend Nick/Mantis in Truckee!