After a short day yesterday I was ready to hike. Thankfully, the trail was mostly snow free today.
The day started off with two big climbs and descents. Then it was a rollercoaster of ups and downs for the rest of the day.
The trail tends to follow mountain ridges, connecting one mountain to another, instead of dropping down to river valleys like other trails do.
This makes for some great scenery, but it also leads to some longer than expected sections of trail.
Today I spent most of the day alone walking from ridge to ridge. When I took a break someone might catch up, but generally I was alone.
When I’m hiking alone I tend to think about what I’ll do after the trail. Maybe work part time at REI while I find a new job. Maybe I’ll write my own app.
Eventually we all made it 25 miles to Cherokee Lake where we set up camp together. Tomorrow we face the “knife edge” which is apparently a dangerous section with steep snow. Good thing we have micro spikes and an ice axe.