Aug 12th
Fern Spring(1663.6)-Alex Hole Campground(1690.3)
Today’s Mileage: 26.7mi
Liz and I got going early again today at 6am. The rest of the group was about 30mins after us. We really wanted to get the steep 5mi climb out if the way before the heat set in. It was so warm last night that I only used my silk liner and not my sleeping bag. The temperature surprisingly turned out to be quite pleasant. There was a slight cool breeze all day, which made for great hiking weather!
Now for my “Double Rainbow” day! If you haven’t heard this saying before, look it up on youtube. A guy filmed a double rainbow and flipped out with glee, crying and wondering what it meant. We all refer to it all the time when we see something awesome. Well, today I had a full day of those moments! Today was our last full day in California and I wasn’t expecting much excitement. I was feeling crummy from cramps and let the group know I’d be hiking solo on my own pace most of the day depending on how bad the cramps were. Despite some pain, I ended up having a great day! Maybe I was hopped up on all the ibuprofen I took. I hardly ever take anything, but the cramps were pretty bad so I gave in. Later in the day, when we went down a rocky section, I braced for ankle pain. There was no pain! Whoa! Then I realized it was because I had taken the ibuprofen. That was nice even though it was temporary.
We spent most of the day on ridge walks like this and there were a lot of gradual ups after the morning climb.
The views and the sky were great all day!
I hiked either just ahead or behind the group most of the day and listened to my headphones a lot. I just loved hiking solo and having my own soundtrack to the day. The scenery reminded me of things we saw in Southern California and it made me reminisce about the journey through the state. I was getting sentimental about finishing California and also excited because tomorrow we enter Oregon. I started to think about how great an ending this was to California and it hit me that it wasn’t just a double rainbow moment, but a double rainbow day! Awesome! Here are more pictures from this fabulous day. What a great end to California!
Also, by the time this comes out, it will be my younger sister’s birthday, so I couldn’t pass up another birthday shout out. Happy Birthday Kieran!
