Day 64: A relaxing day

Day 64 – 6/24/16

1060.91 to Showers Lake 1081.81

Total miles: 20.90 miles

I could not fall asleep last night. My back and hip hurt too much and I just couldn’t get comfortable. Until about 3 and then of course I had no problem. We packed up and were gone a little before 5:30.

The trail was relatively easy all day. Just a few up and downs and not much snow. In the morning we headed towards “The Nipple.”

Lol

The scenery was nice. Trees, lakes, boulders, and just a little snow. Eventually we started walking on “The Nipple.” We were making good time. It seemed like forever since we were able to keep up a 3 mph pace.

We started to head up to some snow and I was getting hungry. I wanted to stop for lunch but it was a bit early. The snow wasn’t too bad. We had to traverse across some snow but it wasn’t a huge drop like some of the ones I’ve been doing over the past few hundred miles. We make it to the top and take lunch. We sit in the shade and I look at my phone and see I have service. I bring up a news article that says Lake Isabella, a trail town down south, is completely on fire. 19,000 acres had already burned up and as of this posting it is much more. This is a town some go to resupply when the reach Walker Pass before heading to Kennedy Meadows. 5 Star and I went straight through.

After a long lunch laying in the shade we started to make our way down. Soon after we came to a junction an started seeing all sorts of day hikers and people hiking up to Frog Lake to fish. People everywhere!

Then we came across a familiar face. One of Mad Dog’s sisters! About mile up the trail we came to a road where there was a parking lot and a visitor center. We signed the register there. I noticed a scale and got on it. It said I was 143 lbs. I don’t think I lost 8 pounds since VVR. The lady at the Visitor Center said the scale is about 5 lbs off. 148 pounds sounds right.
At the end of the parking lot Mad Dog’s sister Marty had her super nice Winnebago parked and was doing a bit more trail magic. Well looks like 2nd lunch!

We sit and eat for a couple more hours until the trail starts to call. We need to do a few more miles so we can have a short 10 miles into Tahoe tomorrow. We set off and come across so many day hikers. After a few miles we came to Showers Lake. We set up our tents right on the shore. Unfortunately I was unable to locate any showers. I feel lied too.

Only 11 miles to Tahoe!