Eagle Creek
Five miles from Ebett's Pass
Elev: 8600 ft
Miles: 20
Trip: 383
This was the first day I had thoughts like "I don't want to be hiking today" and "I'd rather go back to town and have a nap". Even when mosquitoes were dive-bombing me in hordes and my arches felt like rusty springs, I didn't want to be anywhere but on the trail. But this morning I just couldn't find my groove - I couldn't even blame my feet, which are miraculously pain-free. I think the sluggishness was due more to mental fatigue that physical. There just wasn't any pep in my step, and it got me bad-down. I perked up after lunch, but still couldn't rev my engine over 2mph. Then we reached Kinney Lake - a very popular weekend spot judging by the clusters of tents on the shore. I talked myself into a swim and was surprised to find the water as cold as Chicken Spring Lake, 2,000 feet higher.
The swim woke me up, and the last three miles I felt like the old Grolar Bear (my trail name means I can switch from grizzly bear grumpy to polar bear cool with one swim). The mosquitoes have even given us a break tonight - we're finally sleeping under the stars again. I'm hoping for a good night's sleep and a chirpier me in the morning so we can bust out another 25-mile day. That would put us a lot closer to Tahoe and make me feel better about dragging my butt for the last two days. But what will be, will be. I'll just keep reminding myself of how lucky I am to be here, and keep moving along.
Shaggy says:
The miles went by really slowly today. Lauren's feet and shins were feeling okay, but today she felt low on energy. I tried to walk behind her for most of the day, but it was painful on the downhills. The knees seem to take twice the beating when moving slower. So I did hike off a few times ahead of her.
We took a nice long afternoon break at a lake. Lauren swam in the freezing water while I ate snacks and soaked my feet.
We hiked another hour after that, camped by a creek. Did about 20 miles today, it seemed to go by really slowly though. We are probably going into Tahoe on Monday. Hoping we can get in early. I feel a bit anxious, wanting more miles. Hard to stop hiking with so much daylight left.
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| This scene could be anywhere...Africa, Utah, Australia...NorCal is kind of a chameleon that way. |
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| You have no idea how many pictures I have of sequoia/mountain combinations. |
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| If you are sensitive to extreme images, look away from Shaggy's massive calves. They border on obscene. |
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| All out of captions for the moment. |
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| This picture was for my mom, who loves irises. There were fields of wild irises, so I thought of her a lot. |
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| Not sure who this flower is, but she looked very sophisticated. |
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