Day 45: Checkin' In: Delayed!

(Mile 647.5 to 668.5 = 21 miles)

Walker Pass monument. The highlight for hikers? First cell
service in days! (Unless you have Verizon ...)

Well, we're tucked in a ravine next to a creek.  It has been a good day.  Good enough, in fact, that it may have changed my check-in status had I written yesterday.  The day started with fantastic trail magic at the Walker Pass Campground, just four miles in.  It was supposed to be a so-so water source, but instead there were two canopies, two vehicles, and two angels!  I had a bagel with cream cheese, scrambled eggs with cheese and salsa, and a cup of fresh coffee with real milk.  In a real ceramic mug.  And then I topped it off with Oreos and a cream soda.  We filled our waters and got rid of our garbage.  It was wonderful.

Today we officially passed the
quarter of the way marker!

We also met up with other people for the first time in nearly two days.  It is amazing what a little human contact does for the soul!  Sparrow and Barracuda were there as were the five guys -- Snowflake, Cheesecake, Gaiters, Waffles, and Orny (like ornithologist) -- and two other Canadians -- Magellan and Astro.  We'd leapfrogged the guys a couple of times, so it was nice to actually have a chance to talk to them.  And then we bumped into them a few times throughout the day and are camped with them tonight.  They have a good dynamic and are refreshing to be around -- funny, down-to-earth, and interesting.  They're faster than us, but we'll at least catch them again at Kennedy Meadows.  And hopefully again -- they, too, are hares.

Well, it's an hour past hiker midnight and even the guys have gone to bed.  I hate to cut this short (I think about so much more during the day!), but I am exhausted, and typing with my thumbs on a screen the size of a calculator is slow going.  Besides, I want to catch a photo of the guys in their dog pile in the morning.  :)

The guys in their "cuddle puddle." Waffles, Cheesecake, Gaiters,
Orny, and Snowflake. Ridiculously cute.