Campground to campground - 18.4 miles

Total - 729.1 miles

Woke up around 5 and stayed in my tent with my eyes closed until 5:30. Everything was a little damp on the inside and outside of my tent as we camped right by the stream. Dad and I were planning on leaving around 6:30 so I took my time. Normally I rush out of camp but I’m taking it easy and making sure the man is happy and has his hot coffee. Wouldn’t want to mess with him otherwise. We were planning to stop every 5 miles to take a break but that quickly went out the window. 7 miles out was a good river so we pushed toward that. We made good timing and felt strong. We met up with the guys and the girls at the stream and rested for probably an hour before going out to conquer the big climb for today which would be 2000 foot elevation gain, felt like 6000 but we will ignore the at fact. It would also put us at around 10500 ft high. Which if you think about it the man was at 100 feet not 24 hours ago in ridgefield Washington and now he’s at 10,500 feet. What an absolute machine. We went slow which was nice to just slow down and take it in. I am also 700 miles into this so while it was hard it wasn’t too bad. It was mostly my shoulders that felt like melting away in pain. There were no comfortable positions. Dad was setting the pace. I told him I’m prioritizing him and I don’t need to be with my original group or camp by them if he needs to stop for the night. I want him to enjoy his time and not worry about me. He was moving slow (his words not mine) but again, the man is 26 miles in to the pct and crushing altitude already. We stopped for lunch with the group and immediately got swarmed by mosquitos which was NOT fun. The group moved ahead and we slowly started moving again. We orginally were going to go 16 but still wanted to sleep by water so that made us push to 18 miles to be 0.2 miles from water. We were kinda getting chase down by thunder storms in front of us and behind us. We timed it pretty perfectly where we peaked as the thunderstorms were starting to form behind us. Right before we peaked, it started to sprinkle and snow on us just a little but the sun was still out which kept us warm and happy. Dad was hurting but it didn’t seem too bad unless he was downplaying it. I can name probably two of the best feelings in the world which are 1. Taking a sauna and jumping into a cold lake and 2. Taking your goddamn heavy ass backpack off for a break or at the end of the day. The weight lifted from your shoulders feels like I’m bounding through a goddamn flower meadow with the sun beaming on my face as I twirl and fall into the tall grass. That’s how good it feels. Putting it back on feels good until 5 minutes in, your shoulders are screaming from the depths of hell asking for forgiveness as if they have sinned. Anyways, just thought you guys should know. On our way down, it was gradual but that didn’t stop my knees from hurting, and every other part of my body. Hip is feeling good tho, tried a new technique I call keeping your hips aligned. Seemed to do the trick for now. We then got to our campsite which is about a mile behind the guys. We could’ve pushed but 19.5 miles on dads first day would be too much honestly. It was almost too much for me. We are still deciding if we do mount Whitney. Dads permit we are not sure if it will allow him to go up. Might try based on how he’s feeling. In my head, I could do mount Whitney whenever as I am so young and youthful plus I’m not necessarily a peak grabber. All power to y’all if you are. I rather stick with dad. Plus the guys are doing it and if we don’t we could catch up to them as they are pushing 22 miles tomorrow while I think we are shooting for 15. I think I just gotta realize that we are going to be left behind. Once I come to terms with that, I will be fine but it’s hard letting your group go ahead of you when you have been with three of them since day 7 basically or in come and Caleb’s case day 1. They are great guys and while I do want to try to be with them till the very end it’s kinda inevitable that we are going to break apart. Marc’s getting off trail for a good chunk of time to hang with his girlfriend, the bard is getting on trail for a week and he’s not sure if he will finish as he wants to move back to New York. I like his approach of setting a goal (in this case finish the sierras) and then see how you feel and then decide whatcha wanna do. Seems like there’s little pressure and it seems nice. But eventually we will have to split up. Hopefully we will see each other again and link up as they have shaped my experience on trail for the better but we will see. Need to take the bards plan and not put too much pressure on it and see where the journey takes me. I’m just happy to be here with my dad and I want him to enjoy his time which means going easy for the next week so he can get his trail legs. So we set up camp a mile back and just relax before doing the usual chores of filtering water and eating dinner. Today though we had dehydrated peach cobbler as a treat. So good, I could eat that every night. Highly recommend. Then we headed to bed around 7:30ish. I convinced him to roll out with my tiny cork ball as I swear by it for the main reason I never got any tendinitis or other long lasting problems in my knees all the way down to my feet. He said it felt good so I’m taking that as a win. Early night for a good recovery and ready to take on the next pass.