Day 13

A mile past North Fork river to the faucet,

18.3 miles

5000 feet loss aka down to the desert again,

We started this morning at around 5,500 feet with the cool brisk mountain air. As we steadily lost elevation throughout the day, it became warmer and warmer. We were gifted a nice breeze to keep things cool. A few days ago it had been about 100 degrees in Palm Springs so we were very grateful to have avoided that.

The high forest and coolness of the air was a small taste of what is to come in the Sierras. There were several points in the last couple of days where I was reminded of hiking around Lake Tahoe. I am trying to remind myself to enjoy each moment of the trail including the desert but I am also really excited to get up into the mountains!

Today’s miles dropped us out into desert terrain fairly quickly so we scrambled to find some shade as the day got hotter. We were grateful for a few large boulders along the way! We even took a siesta under a tree since we were able to do the miles today a bit faster than planned. Usually our pace slows way down when going downhill but the trail was graded very well and we could keep up our pace. Our knees were very grateful for the gradual descent!

The milestone of the day was hitting 200 miles! It is hard to believe we have already walked 200 miles! It is a gift to be out here! While some of the high points of thruhiking are the northern and southern terminus’ and the milestones in between, it is the journey that makes the memories and growth.