When I turned my headlamp on at 1am and saw a thin blanket of snow on the ground, I knew it was going to be an interesting day. Minutes after turning in last night, the thunder and lightning show reached a fever pitch as hail began pelting my tent. The rest of the night passed by with lulls and snowflakes in equal measure.
Did I Say it was Hot?
Strange. I don't recall saying it....then again, a lot has changed in the last 48 hours. From sweating in the sun of Kennedy Meadows to looking like it might possibly snow tonight in a mere 48 miles of trail. At 11,000 feet, none of this is a terrible surprise, but it's hard to comprehend such drastically different conditions in such a short span of time. A trail of extremes, yet again.
Pressure
I looked down at the new compression sleeves that gently hugged my calves, wondering whether they'd be the medicine for my slowly improving shin splint in one leg and the newly aching Achilles in the other. When I looked up, the familiar and ever-increasing rock of the Sierra seemed to be slowly surrounding me, a creeping army of stone.
Additions and Subtractions
Five boxes. That's what awaited me this morning when I filed into the Kennedy Meadows General store this morning and put my name on the list for mail pickup. The relief of all of them arriving without issue soon morphed into a pseudo-Christmas-morning unwrapping of each.
A Desert Farewell
It was as if the sun was trying to exact one final measure of punishment, beating us down one final time as a send-off in honor of the previous 700 miles that apparently hadn't been quite hot enough. Miles of hiking through barren, previously burned areas didn't help, despite having easily one of the best water sources of the trail so far to begin the morning.
A Raisin in the Sun
"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible."
Have Mango, Will Travel
My first true "nearo" day, i.e. a "near zero" miles day, I decided to eschew an alarm for the second day in a row, sleep in, and catch the afternoon bus back to the trail rather than the one that left at 5:15am. As we whiled away the hours, I could hold out no more. The sirens song of the mango I'd been saving as a final treat was simply too great to resist any longer.