Miles: 22.1

Total Trail Miles: 1608.4 

Ascent/Descent: 4074/4657 ft 

Start Time: 05:29 

End Time: 20:13 

Temperature: 21°C (70°F)

I woke looking forward to the sort have a shower and clean clothes for town day. I had about 14 miles to go to get to the road where I can get a ride into Etna. I started early wanting to get into town and back out again as quickly as possible The first part of the morning pass take me through jagged Rocky Mountains that were very impressive. When I got some service about 6 miles in. I send a text to Trail Angel to arrange her to pick me up at 11:30 as I knew there was no service at the road And it was a hard hitch. I then had another climb up to over 37,000 feet and at the top it was a lovely view over a lake so I paused her to eat my breakfast. This was the last bit of service I will get on. I sent Robin the Trail Angel a message to say I will be there at 11:40 the hike down to the road was mostly through the trees and I met a lovely bunch of local Dae hikers who gave me a large apple And told me which their truck was in the car park and said to reach in the back for a cold drink out of the cooler. I was very grateful and excited for a cold can have refreshing drink when I got down to the bottom. Robin was there along with a Sobo hiker Have just arrived, I was going to head into town to grab my cold drink from the truck and then we drove for eight or so miles into town turned out the Sobo hiker, strider, had hiked the PCT seven times all in consecutive years. He does it every summer, but this is his first Sobo, Robin dropped us off in front of the Denny distillery where she recommended. We ate lunch. I had a very tasty vegan pizza for such a little quiet town. It was very very busy turned out. They had a bit of music festival there that weekend, but unfortunately it was over now Then it was chore time. First, I went to the outdoor shop to pick up my stashed package. It was around the back of the shop tucked behind a bench where the lady had said it would be. She told me to help myself to an ice pop from the freezer, so I did as it was very hot And then headed to the supermarket to pick up some bars and a few other bits there I bumped into ocho ocho who was sat outside. He had to slow down to 15 mile days recently as he also had shinsplints. Luckily they were just mild. I gave her some advice of how to deal with them. Inside the shop I then saw Brooke she originally hadn’t intended on coming in to etna so I was surprised to see her. But she explained that she had caught up with her friends and done a couple of big mile days, but then her feet started to hurt again, so she slowed down and decided to treat herself to a town day. She was heading back to Trail at 4 pm, and I said I could maybe share a lift with her if I was ready in time. I then walked to the other side of town to the laundromat where I called. Marcus charged up my devices and sorted out my food. It was then time to walk back to the other side of town to the park where you could have a shower with a token that I bought from the shop, luckily the shower was free. The water was powerful and it was warm by the time I showered it was 4:15 so Brooke had gone, but I text Robin and she was happy to take me back to Trail. She pick me up at about 20 to 5 and we drove up to the trailhead, she had a daughter similar age to me and had also lost her husband so it seems like mine and my mum‘s lives had something in common with hers and her daughters. She told me about the women, her best friend and daughter who owns the outdoor shop who is also lost her husband, I asked her to thank her friend for sorting my parcel out for me and I got back on Trail around 5:30 and had a climb back up from the road. It was hot but not unbearably so with the Sun lowering the sky now. I wanted to try and make it 8 miles to make tomorrow easier, but had a back up campsite at 4 miles if I didn’t wanna go that far. Just before the campsite at 4 miles, I saw Brooke setting up her tent. We chatted for a few minutes and I was sure I’d see her again tomorrow as we were aiming for similar miles, but I pushed on as my shin felt okay and I was enjoying the evening hiking. I stopped for dinner on the way into Nobu flipper hikers going south past again. They were impressed to hear I had gone through the Sierra and I gave him a few tips about town. I finally arrived at the campsite just after the Sun dipped behind the mountains at 8:20. There were five other hikers, sat around eating dinner and chatting, but I found a spot next to them set up my things and then went to join them for 40 minutes before it got dark One was going south three north and one lash hiker, they had all skipped the Sierra. They asked me lots of questions about my Sierra experience, and one said that he had labelled all of us that went through the Ciara savages again they were very impressed. It was a late night and it was 9:30 before I was tucked up in bed as some deer bustles around our tents. I put my poles and trainers in my tent so they didn’t get eaten or licked.