I decided to take my second zero in a row today to wait for Jett Cat. The timing for this has worked out as the thunderstorms in the Whites continued through the day today and many hikers not planning zeros chose to also wait it out. It just isn’t worth going into the Whites after hiking all the way up here to experience it in thunderstorms and not see it. I also woke up with the same sore throat for the fifth day in a row. It’s odd because I hardly ever get sick and if I do, it doesn’t last this long. I feel fine other than the sore throat and decided to go to Sweetfish’s family doctor just to rule out strep throat. It isn’t strep so I’m good to go and don’t need to worry about that. It will be fine.

The fun part of the day was that Jett Cat arrived! Sweetfish had the day off so we picked Jett Cat up from the trail and did our resupplies. I had some fun care packages that arrived and I want to thank mom & Mark, Katy, Christy, Malto, Joey & Diana, Warren, and Janet for all the goodies. THANK YOU!

I now have a buddy to hike with and we are both quite excited about this! Both of us are independent solo hikers who have hiked most of this trail alone, but we found that we were in sync the two days that we did overlap. Since then, both of us have hit a bit of a slump the last few weeks and have hiked with hardly anyone. We think it will help both of us to hike together and it has already lifted my spirits tremendously to have Jett Cat here. We are really looking forward to doing the Whites together. One funny thing in doing our resupplies is how evident it was that Jett Cat eats a lot healthier than I do. We went to a coop grocery store to resupply and she was in heaven whereas I couldn’t even find a can of Pringles. All worked out in the end and she has her baggie of Kale chips while I have my baggie of Pringles, ha!

Jett Cat also enjoys her share of candy, so her food bag isn’t completely void of sugar and I’m willing to overlook the kale chips and dried fruit. We did take a trip to the local candy store, Chutters, where they hold the world record for the world’s longest candy counter at 112ft. They had everything!

It was a fun and relaxing zero day. Sweetfish even taught Jett Cat how to tear a phone book in half with her bare hands, ha! We all had another great dinner together as Bob made pork chops and fish.

Tomorrow we return bright and early to the Whites hoping that the forecasted morning thunderstorms will pass quickly. It looks like they will be a possibility for the rest of the week so we are hoping for some good timing as we can’t wait it out any longer. Ninja will even be hiking in with us the first night so that will be fun! The mileage is going to be much less this week through the Whites as it is much more time consuming hiking and we also want to have time to take in the amazing views to come. Our plan is under 20mi days and will also be determined by the shelters as camping away from shelters or huts is very limited. It’s finally here!