September 19

Distance: 11.0 miles | Ascent: 1160′ | Descent: 2030′

Mile marker: 1562.4

Lunch: J – large Big Mac meal (A-), A –

Dinner: J&A – large roma pizza (A+)

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It rained last night. And, this morning. Our weather report said the rain was ending, or pausing, at 7 am. So, we slept in. An absolute luxury since we’ve been hiking from sun up to sun down the last few days. Fortunately, the weather report was correct and the rain eased enough to pack camp while staying dry.

We had a breezy 11 miles to the trailhead. We passed through rocky ruggedness and many lakes of Desolation Wilderness. It was beautiful! We took many photos, knowing we could soon charge our phones in town and did not need to conserve battery.

At the trailhead, we ran into a nice couple on a vacation who offered us a ride into town. They were impressed by our journey, but they also shared stories of them winning ultramarathons and hiking around Europe, so we were more impressed with (and inspired by) them.

We got our resupply box and Alex’s new shoes at the post office peacefully and without issue, despite warnings of chaos, confusion, and lost packages from other hikers.

We got a huge lunch at Maccas, realizing we had never before gone into a McDonalds with the goal of consuming as many calories as possible. We left after eating a full tray of fast food that would disgust most but was heavenly to us.

Thankfully, we found an affordable hotel despite landing in a popular vacation town on a Friday and Saturday. We went to a sporting goods store to replace some gear. Jason bought new shoes, inspired by Alex’s switch and high praise for Topo. We are now wearing the same shoes, the Topo Ultraventure 4! Jason also got a new water filter. His had become abysmally slow from the hundreds of gallons of wild water filtered over the last two months. Finally, we ordered a pizza and settled in for the night to complete our many outstanding chores. We didn’t expect to be busy, but we grew restless and gave ourselves things to do and plan while in towns.

We’re taking a day off tomorrow in South Lake Tahoe to complete our chores and rest up for our next big section of trail, the Sierra!