Day 65 (8 July)

Miles 873.6 to 890.9. Bushcamp to bushcamp.

When we decide to get up everyone else in the camp has already left. We both are tense, not quite feeling the trail today. It‘s about time we get into town. And tomorrow is the day! So let‘s get going, let‘s do this! We pack everything up and then spray ourselves genereously with deet. Suddenly Dario cries out in pain. He had held the spray the wrong way and sprayed the poison directly into his eyes! This is bad, we need to react quickly. Luckily the stream with a little waterfall is nearby and he runs over and washes his eyes out for about 10 minutes. His contact lenses are gone, the acid has practically burnt them. Thank god he had them already on, if he hadn‘t been with the contacts I am not sure what would have happened to his eyes. They still sting a little but he is sure he can start hiking now. So that‘s what we do.

One more pass until Mammoth Lakes- Silver Pass. We are getting really excited! It‘s been an intense 8 or so days out here and we can both feel the strain on our bodies, and mind. For the first time I question myself and this trip. Is this really what we want to be doing for like another 3 months? Oh, all the things we could be doing instead! Dario is feeling it too. But we are sure it‘s all got to do with our imminent return home which we are so happy about! Surely this is the reason we feel this way? I guess we will have to wait and see.

First we go up. Then we go down a very steep hill only to climb back up on the other side. See? It also starts to sound the same way, every day. But let me assure you, every day out here is different. The scenery changes constantly and manages to amaze us every single day. Suddenly we hear noises from behind, turn around to find out that we have been stalked by a whole caravan of horses. The ones from the Muir Trail Ranch probably? Wow, that must be such a logistical nightmare to get all the goods there. Gone are the negative thoughts, it‘s even fun to climb the last pass, we tackle it with a lot of energy. The view from the top is spectacular once more, there is quite a bit of snow still there and large cloud formations make it look rather out-of-this-worldly and menacing.

We stop for lunch after the pass, but both feeling restless, we want to get some more miles in, as to not having to do many the next day and reach Mammoth Lakes early. So off we are, hiking fast now, all the way down and then, of course, back up the next mountain. We will camp on top of that mountain and then only have to go downhill the next day. Dario isn‘t feeling it at all anymore, and I just want to reach camp and keep pushing. Finally we make it. The climb was beautiful but tough, once we are on top we are both soaking wet from sweating. But there is still sun up here and we hang everything up to dry and give ourselves a good wash with wet wipes. We are in good spirits again, making dinner, dreaming about the delicious food we are gonna order at Red‘s Meadow the next day and then soon make our way into our cozy sleeping bags. Another up and down day, literally and figuratively speaking.