slept okay ish in the hotel, we all woke up a bunch during the night, but got our hours in. got up nice and early, only to find laundry not done yet. had an emotional facetime session with Niek, I find we are at an emotional impasse, we both know what we feel, but have no more ways to express it other than cry for the distance between us. after anouk and Wouter left for breakfast we called again. the decision to hike to KMS and come home becomes more clear every day. 

packed up our stuff and hitched out, got picked up by some really stereotypical Americans. hiked from scissors crossing up into the hills, warm, and slightly slanted trail, causing tendons to hurt. made it 10ish miles to a nice campground. at mile 5ish we crossed paths with Beach Party, a Californian who did a sub 90 PCT thru last year, and is hitting the AT sobo later this year. he gave us each a cooled soda, so that was great. We also saw army helicopters and a fighter jet pretty close by, it's America after all

I've finally been getting into podcasts again. and I'm in need of some compression socks, getting them in Idyllwild. 

the thought of only having to hike 6 more weeks instead of 20 eases the ache in my heart. I'll get to spend the summer with my love, as it should be