Just another small pass – the motto of the last two days. We left Yosemite and the crowded area. Also the JMT hikers are gone from the trail now since their trail starts/ends in the Yosemite Valley. Peace for us again.

To make a long story short. Some days are just work on the trail. The last two days were some of those. We can’t complain at all! The scenery is still very pretty!

But I guess after the High Sierras everything else just looks a bit flat and less exciting. Probably unfair to where we are now…

 

It is quite incredible that the Sierras do lie behind us already. What a huge topic when I started the trail. “The Sierras!” Yeah, a challenging part, especially this year with all the snow. But it was only about 10 days of the entire journey (depending where you want to draw the border of course…). An epic part. But also very short. This year has been dominated by the discussions about flipping or going through in the snow and how to do it right this year. For many hikers it was a huge topic. Is it a real thru-hike if I flip? Should I continue? Also I would have liked to continue. And at the beginning I also felt a bit bummed that I couldn’t walk it in one go. But I guess the beauty of having done another long distance hike already I knew for myself that it is all about the journey itself anyways and what you make out of it. Of course everyone has different goals and objectives. And that is more than fair. You have to be able to look back and hopefully be happy with the decisions you took. So people who walked on the road for 100 or more miles to skip the Sierras and be able to continue their journey in one go sacrificed a lot to meet their goals. Looking back now I am glad I got to see both sides – the snowy and now the beautiful one! I, for myself made the right call. Experiencing the stretch of the Sierras in the beauty of three seasons in one day was worth the flipping and waiting. It was the more enjoyable ride. Views, scenery, swimming in the lakes and much more. Too sad it’s already over… #ilovemountains

Good news – my left leg (again) doesn’t hurt at all anymore. That makes it a lot more pleasant. Even my right one got better over the last two days. I don’t know what it is. The taped feet, the K-T tape on the muscles or the new insoles? Or all of it? I don’t care at all! Whatever it is – thank you!!!

Kaylee is becoming a trail nurse and renewed my tape which I can’t do myself. Quite a bit of work but I don’t want to risk anything after the first bit of success.

I do have the feeling that my experiment with insoles after my orthotics melted away in the sun led to the tendinitis and inflammation…
We pushed a 26 and a 24 – hills are getting flatter and miles are going up again. Even though also Kaylee had a bit of a motivational hole today. She woke up and said: “I hate hiking! I don’t want to walk anymore. It build up a bit over the last days but I guess a lot of things come together. Being sick, leaving the Sierras and also the duration of this journey, being hungry and what all more give you days were you just have to get through. Important to remember: A bad day on the trail is still better than a good day at work 😉 In the afternoon everything was already more or less ok.
She is also seeing a lot of wild boar these days. I suspect her to make these noises but whenever I accuse her she points in the woods and says: “These rude boars!” I don’t know. It smells like a shitty try to cover something up! I will further investigate here.
That’s more or less it. We thought again that we had gone the wrong way. And this time way off but it all resulted in a cheap copy.

We really can’t complain:


Tomorrow next resupply and then three more days to South Lake Tahoe 😳