I thought I saw someone leaving the camp at 2 in the morning, but I assumed it was just a dream. I woke up a little early too, hoping to put in some really big miles. It looked like today would be almost all downhill.
Despite being mostly downhill, there was over 5000 feet of climbing. Much of that came from little ups and downs along a ridge. This part of the hike was pleasant.
Eventually, it warmed up. This wasn’t the dry California heat I’ve gotten used to. This was humid wet heat like straight outta the Midwest.
I stopped by a water source and heard a guy say he stopped by the spring where I was camped at 2 am. It wasn’t a dream after all.
We descended further and further, reaching a nice river. There’s a small car campground at the river and some people were nice enough to give me a drink. I answered their questions about the trail and then hiked on,
Near the river it was pretty cool, but as soon as I hiked a little above it… it was sweltering.
I had my eye on some campsites that were about 36 miles past the start of the day. I got to the last water source before the sites and took a break. My feet were killing me.
Ever since Mammoth I’ve been dealing with this weird cracked foot issue. My feet dry out, crack, and the cracks are extremely painful. I thought I was done with it, but today I got an especially deep one on the tip of my pinky toe.
So I stopped at 33 miles. Not a bad day and it still leaves less than 30 miles into town tomorrow. There’s 8000 feet of climbing though. That’s like climbing Mt. Rainier.