Friday, October 20, 2023
Miles: 17.63
Elevation gain/loss: 2093’/5495′
I was up at 4:30am and out by 4:55am. Soon after starting, I was sweating in the dark. It was so strange for it to be dark but not cool. Thankfully, the water cache was there with enough water for me to take what I needed to get to Lake Roosevelt. By the time it was 8am, it was already 75 degrees. I made it down to the bridge by 10:30am in the wilting heat, walked across without flinging myself into the water, and managed to distract myself from the trail’s pointless 700′ gain over a mile and a half to be off the road, when I could just walk the flat road maybe half a mile to the marina. But I stuck to the trail and wanted to finish my hike where I finished last time, seeing the same trail sign as before.
I was at the trail intersection by 11:30am. It was 90 and felt like 95. I walked down to the marina, and the trail provided Snorkel! I first met Snorkel on the PCT, north of Kennedy Meadows South, on her last day of her PCT thruhike completed as a section hiker. I’d been seeing her name on trail registers for a while, but she had started out almost a week ahead of me so I didn’t think I’d catch up. I was so excited to meet a friendly face! We hung out at the picnic table for a while, and then went to the marina’s patio for lunch and charging. Over lunch, I managed to convince her to come back with me to MJ’s to relax for the rest of the day out of the heat. We convinced Frenchy to come along too, and we headed out with MJ when she arrived at 2:45pm.
At MJ’s house, we met Narrator, Howl, Seeking, and Lost. After a shower, laundry, and getting settled in, I went to the Family Dollar for dinner and bus/plane snacks. Finishing a section or even an entire trail is always a hard thing for me. Transitioning back into non-hiking life is mostly welcome but still challenging. I was glad to have a few days of liminal space. The next afternoon, I took a Greyhound from Superior to Phoenix, and got settled at a hotel near the airport for my Sunday morning flight.
Transcending Mountains 