Day 46 (19 June)

Miles 656.9 to 680.9. Bushcamp to Bushcamp
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​We get up at 4 am and wake up TwoBeers and Zach, now Roadrunner, in the process. It is still dark and cool, which is welcome because it's all uphill. After another half hour we watch a beautiful sunrise and soon decide to take a breakfast break and send a video message to Dani, our Swiss friend and birthday kid. Happy Birthday!
The next section is downhill again and it is in the shade, walking is fairly easy. We get some water and the Joshua Tree Spring. The water is barely dripping out of a rusty pipe and surrounded by bees. Luckily someone had put a basket underneath it which had already filled up by the time we got down to the spring.
Water is an issue today. It's hot and the sources are scarce. Our midday break we spend underneath a beautiful tree, there is a nice breeze going and we manage to cool down a bit and have lunch. After Dario‘s nap (he sure can sleep in any condition, also when it‘s like 40 degrees) we have a huge climb ahead of us. It‘s hot, there‘s hardly any shade and it just won‘t stop going up. I feel like an absolute beginner again! We keep checking on our PCT app called Guthook‘s how much longer it‘s supposed to go up, but there‘s no point, it looks like we‘re hardly moving. This isn‘t fun anymore, I just want to leave the desert at this point, reach KM and don‘t look back. Finally, after what seems like forever, we reach the mountain top. It turns out we climbed 700m in altitude, but it sure felt like double that!

By now we are completely exhausted, sweatier than ever and just want to reach our camp for the night. But if we want to make it to Kennedy Meadows by tomorrow night we still have a couple of miles to go. At least it‘s cooled down a bit and we are fast descending down to the valley. Mosquitoes and other annoying flying insects keep flying into our faces, this certainly doesn‘t help our mood. Dario then speeds off, and I hike as fast as I can, even taking over some other hikers. It is beautiful now, around sunset, I keep taking pictures and fully taking in the moment. I am so exhausted, have probably never been dirtier, sweatier and stinkier, but this moment is nice and it‘s all mine. Finally I reach the campsite where my sweet super hero boyfriend has already set up the tent and is about to get water from the stream nearby. We don‘t even eat dinner and just fall asleep the minute we lie down on our pads. Kennedy Meadows tomorrow, what a milestone! This is truly hard to believe!