Mash had been hounding us for days now to do a 30 mile day together and today we did. I got up and left, racing ahead of the others. Usually, I prefer to switch hiking alone with parts together, but the humid heat that was back in full force made me decide to make the most of the morning. As usual, I was drenched in sweat after a short period of hiking. The difference this time was that it was 5h45 in the morning. It never got this hot early in the morning, which made me fear for the rest of the day. I tried to go even faster before the heat would force me to hunker down in some shade.
Relief came in the form of clouds which formed above us. The raging sun calmed down a bit. This gave me the necessary time to get 18 miles in before lunch and get to a lake. Because of the relative coolness I got some time to appreciate the views more. Some of them could honestly compete with the Sierra’s. I found Crossroads at the lake shortly before he left.
O2 joined me as I was lying on my groundsheet. He’s such a peaceful presence. When Mash and Lucky Charm caught up, he took out his guitar and started playing some songs. Eating on the shoreside, relaxing in the shade and listening to O2 honestly made for the best lunch I’d had so far. This is the life, I thought.
We hiked on into the night and made it to 31.5 miles. Pretty successful! Mash, Lucky Charm, Drive Thru and me tucked ourselves in a corner next to the river and went to bed.