“Just Tryin’ to get away from all the years inside the walls.” -John Prine Ken, as he had promised, left a note to the morning ranger to roust us out of bed and give us a ride down to the P.O. Her name was Jean, I think. She was young, talkative, boisterous, energetic. Energetic especially. Especially for seven a.m.. We had been up for awhile half waiting for a ride. We weren’t, however, up to Jeans speed. Upon hitting the pavement in front of Ammaratti’s we were accosted with the conversation of two more energetic locals. A town of coffee achievers undoubtedly. Dyl and I, feeling a bit too at peace in such environs, kicked it into gear by each consuming an entire box of sugary cereal. enough to sufficiently weigh us down. We will not be wanting of treats. Siri sent a photo of her as well. Folded up it fits in my pack wallet. Already I’ve taken it out several times today to sneak a peak. Dyl has a locket on his neck with a picture of Camella that she gave him just prior to the trip. Until now I always felt lonely when I’d spy him looking at it.

It started getting awfully hot around the time I had eaten enough to feel ill. We did our best to stall. The trail kept calling and we eventually succumbed. Today consisted entirely of climbing. We are maybe five hundred feet shy of the entire 4,000 ft. rise tonight perched on this little saddle. After lunch cloud cover rolled in. Thunder threatened rain, which never came. The respite from the sun was welcome and a temperature drop reduced rivers of sweat to raging rivulets. I was continually thirsty and stopped to drink unfiltered water from many of the streams we crossed. Drinking from my bottle would have been safer and served to lighten my load. Regardless, the cold clear steams were just too inviting. The Castle Crags these creeks are born from are quite impressive. We had the opportunity to view them from three sides over the coarse of the day.

We are feeling fine. It’s so much more reasonable to govern our pace by our level of cheer. The push is gone. I asked Dyl if he was envious of Psycho Ken and LETITBE’s thirty mile days. “They can have all the glory.” He retorted. Its really true, geography is dogmatic. We have already crossed our internal borders. It just didn’t take us as long as we thought it would.