November 14

Distance: 10.6 miles | Ascent: 860′ | Descent: 1550′

Mile marker: 2655.1

Lunch: J&A – chicken burrito (A+)

Dinner: J – L&L chicken katsu (A+), A – L&L kalua pork and cabbage (A+)

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At daybreak we woke with excitement in the air. Many of us were finishing today. It was a short walk to the end, relatively. With storms in the forecast, many were itching to beat them.

One of the most spectacular sunsets of the whole four-and-a-half months saw our departure out of camp.

We hiked in a train with our friends, taking turns at leader when the leader either had to garden or when they didn’t feel like being leader anymore. When we hike in groups, we tend to take fewer pictures, instead focusing on talking or keeping pace, not stopping for pictures.

The trail was little overgrown and rocky until we hit the railroad tracks. We thought the desert was supposed to be flat. It’s not flat. It’s like the Alps, according to our Austrian friend on trail.

We were now in Campo proper. Then trail steadily, but less steeply, climbed up to the border. We reached the one mile marker, storms were coming, threatening to rain on us at any minute.

As we got close to the finish, we pulled up just short. We had family coming to meet us at the terminus at a designated time the next day, when we had planned to finish. Instead, we got a short ride to the terminus to support and celebrate the great friends we had camped, hiked, laughed, and worked with. But, we refused to actually touch the terminus. We’ll have our moment tomorrow.