OB and Lydia wake up super early. We’re ready to hike at 5:30. I feel like a zombie, I don’t think I slept at all last night. What I thought was a flat spot to set up my tent turned out to be a gradual incline. I kept waking up at the bottom of my tent. 

  
The trail leads us down a hill through tall pine trees. The sun starts to rise and highlights their branches with gold. It’s beautiful. 

   
 We pass some thu hikers going the other way up the trail. That’s cool, more south bounders.

We get to a campsite and look at our maps. Hold up. We’re going south?! Oops. We ended up hiking 2 miles the wrong way into the closure. Now we have to hike back to the spot were Sublime dropped us off. Oh well. 

The sun is fully up now.   

We get back to the road and take a break.  OB’s foot is really swollen and it’s hot! The hikers that passed us push on. We laugh at how we thought the other was south bound. 

A car pulls up and drops off Overstock! The driver is a nurse. She looks at OB’s foot and the news is not good. She thinks he has a stress fracture. He wants to hike on to the fire station ahead and have them look at it too.

We head out. The trail is wide, flat and covered with sand. I try to hike fast but my body is so tired. I hang back as Lydia and Overstock talk. We cross the 400 mile marker!!!

  
 
The trail crosses the road several more times. I find more poodle dog bush. I can smell it before I see it. It’s everywhere.

 
We enter a dry burn section. Signs warn us of unstable trees. 

   That’s great. Hope the wind doesn’t get too strong.

   

 
 The next water is near the top of another steep climb. I bust out Doug’s Sansa clip and power through listening to ‘Air’.

  

 I pass a handful of hikers resting in the shade. I am drenched in sweat when I get to the water. There’s no good place to sit there is so much poodle dog bush! It starts to get really crowded, everyone planned on getting water here.

  
 I push on with another hiker called Cappie. The other side of the hill is covered in grass and yellow flowers. Tall pine trees shade the way. It feels so nice. 

  
Cappie stops to set up camp and I hike on. The trail decends gradually. OB and Lydia pause to make dinner. We agree to camp at he next flat spot.   

   
I get to the next flat spot and set up for the night. There are so many hikers it feels like a town of tents.   

I’m camped with Dylan, Disco, Jeppe, Wild Card, and a 5 more I don’t know their names yet! We eat dinner and watch the sun set. 

  
The city lights glow in the dusk far below. I wonder where OB and Lydia are. I hope OB’s foot is okay.

  
Camped at mile 415.09 of the PCT

Miles hiked today: 17.39 + 4 = 21.39