The day started off bright and early woth a fellow hikers alarm going off at 5 am. I laid in bed until 6, listening to people getting ready before I started packing myself.
Today started off easy with some flat trail that followed roads. After 6 easy miles, I came to boulder oaks campground.
Boulder Oaks happened to be the site of a 50 mile ultramarathon and we reaped he benefit of spectators and aid stations with some snacks. I spent a good portion of the afternoon dodging people running down the trail. The leader was more than 2 hours ahead of the person in last place.
After an hour break by the river, I noticed what looked like a 6th toe. A blister on my pinky toe had filled with fluid and taken over most of the toe.
We did over 4000 feet of climbing today and made our way out of the desert and more into the mountains. There were even pine trees! With that elevation comes cold though, and just a week ago they got 5 inches of snow.
Once we got to camp, I was happy to find that my blister had popped and was doing much better now.
This is the second restaurant so far on the trail and my second trail beer. It doesn’t even feel like roughing it yet.
The group I camped with has mostly split up. There’s only one person left. Most opted for a shorter day, while a crazy few went on even farther.
My body seems to be handling 20 mile days alright, although we’ll see how tomorrow goes.