Roller Coaster

Today has been the most extreme roller coaster of emotions. Julia woke me up at 1:30AM because her tooth hurt and needed an ibuprofen (mom's, don't freak out). Problem was, she has a hard time taking a pill at the best of times, let alone when we don't have any water! Luckily we were still high enough that there was snow nearby, so I went and got her some snow and she managed.

Later that morning, we walked the 1.2 miles to the Fuller Ridge Trailhead where there was a meadow with a couple little pools of water from which we could filter the 7 or so liters we needed for the next 15, hot, shadeless, downhill miles we needed to cover before the next water source. Because of this, we got a late start and didn't start the bulk of the day's miles until 8:15, and it gets hot quick and early out here. Today was mostly downhill, but it still seemed to take forever. Oh! We saw 3 rattlesnakes today!! Anyways, we took breaks when we could find a few feet of shade, which wasn't often. The late afternoon heat took it's toll on us but we knew we just needed to get down to the water faucet at the bottom of this damn mountain! We could literally see where we would end up, way back from up the mountain, but you have to do what seems like a million long switch backs to get down. FINALLY! We could see it getting closer and closer and I made a sprint to it when we were within about 150 meters. A water fountain, kind of in the middle of nowhere. Cold, refreshing, delicious. I chugged hard. The read the sign that said you should treat this water like you would any other water on the PCT. hmmmm I'll be fine I'm sure. We cooked dinner there (me mashed potatoes and hot sauce, Julia had Spanish Rice. There we met 'gut feeling', a nice girl from Iowa, with whom we walked the final 5 miles to Ziggy and Bear's place. About 3.5 miles into the walk, you cross under a highway, and there were beers and sodas, cold beers and sodas. I had an MGD and Julia had a coke, which we would typically not consume at home, but they were oh so good in the moment. There were a few others there that were going to spend the night, but the three of us decided to press on, in the dark.

We finally made it to Ziggy and Bear's. We expected a back yard with space to cowboy camp (no tent). We were wrong. Oh, so incredibly, amazingly wrong. We were immediately greeted by Ziggy and Bear and they offered us ice cream and tubs with hot water for our feet. They have wifi and computers we can use and so much more. Wow. After such a trying day (oh, I also got a bee sting on my ring finger of my left hand.... Hmmmm ;) ) this place is that much more appreciated. It's people like Ziggy and Bear, and places like these that really help keep you going. We've met so many unbelievably generous people already, and we're not even 10% done! This whole hiking thing will probably be a one and done sort of thing, but I'm so glad we went for it. We've been exposed to so many incredible experiences, and special, kind people already. As I write this, I'm sleeping outside with about 20 or so other hikers, under a sky full of stars with perfect temperatures and a slight breeze. What will tomorrow bring? Can't wait.

Wow.