Campground to Kennedy meadows - 3.8 miles

Total - 703.4 miles

Woke up late as we had all the time in the world. It was hard for me as I am so Ansy. We got up and planned to go to the river to swim before we headed out to the official end of the desert. The water was so cold so I didn’t get in but just put my nasty lil toesies in. We hung out with mattias, kit, Louisa, Rachel, reggae, and Klara. Klara is hilarious. We were swapping stories about the most embarrassing moments of our lives. We will keep it in the goss circle and leave you guys teased. It was so good. We then headed out in a brother bear line for the last 4 miles talking and giggling and gaggling. We then had our last little road walk and most of the group went ahead while Rachel, Louisa, and I stayed back to walk in with reggae who was just a bit behind. The best part about Kennedy meadows is when you walk up everyone at the general store claps for you as you have just finished the desert section and it is the gateway to the sierras. It almost made me tear up as Ella and all the other hikers stood up and clapped and rang the cowbell for us. I kept making the joke that I really wanted the clap at Kennedy meadows. Foul joke but it landed everytime with the group. We immediately got in line for food but it was a long line and as we were standing there the store owner came up to us to explain how there is a woman who didn’t have money yesterday but had $20 bucks to get cigs today so watch our stuff. It was a little weird as she kinda made it a race thing but tried to play it off like she didn’t but the woman was a little weird as she was sitting on some old man’s lap bouncing a bit. Then she took off her shirt. Weird vibe here honestly but I don’t think she was a hiker. While in line I felt a bit faint as the smoke was coming off the griddle and it was hot and we hadn’t sat for awhile. Louisa and reggae was kind enough to order lunch for me while I sat to regain my temperature and not feel faint. We then waited for our food for like an hour and a half. It was still fun tho. We planned at 4 to do our race case which involves a two person team (we had to pick one of the opposite gender and someone from a different trail family so we had to mingle) and then finish a 12 pack of beer. Ella and I were partnered up as I vetoed that she and Caleb couldn’t be paired up as I saw how they were going band for band at the VFW finishing 6 pints back to back. If they were paired the challenge would be done in 10 minutes. Anyways, Ella was the man in our partnership and boy did she drink like one. She carried for sure as I drank 4 beers and she killed 8 like an absolute machine. The first beer went down easy but the belching and the gas that was brewing in my stomach caused me to be uncomfy sitting as well as standing so I had to put two hands on the table bent over like a bitch. I was getting chirped by the amigos as well as chirping me with positive re-enforcement to get me to drink more. Both strategies failed. Then Ella started respectfully yelling to pull my shit together and chug. I could not and would not throw up as 1 throwing up infront of so many people would kill me and 2 imagine throwing up just beer. NASTY. The third beer was the hardest and took me the longest and by the time I opened the fourth beer Caleb and Klara were declared winners with the clanging of the cowbell. After we could enjoy the beers but I was still suffering. I still ended up drinking three more but that’s besides the point. I then took over as manicurist as all the guys were asking for pink and purple nails with little smiley faces and hearts. So girly pop of them. Bryan kept coming back as he was messing up the same finger over and over again. I had to redo it 6 times and I was bitchin him out bc of it. Sailor Aida came out and was a lil too aggressive with my potty mouth. It was so fun tho! I was pretty drunk but we weren’t slowing down. The girls had a lil gossip sesh and I got to have some in-depth conversations with them which was super nice to have girl time. I really like the girls. Klara is so fucking funny and was matching Caleb’s energy perfectly. I’ve never seen him so happy to have someone on par with his humor. Truly spectacular. They were like the two kids in classroom that should not sit by each other. I then around 9:30 headed to bed. Drunk of course. Would regret it in the morning.