I had to pee at 5am and woke up to a really beautiful sunrise but I did go back to sleep afterwards for like half an hour. This night was also much warmer so nothing got wet overnight. Today we have another 17 miles to go (27,2km) before getting closer to Mount Whitney tomorrow. From the morning we were getting stunning views. It was a nice sunny day but being around 3 000m the whole day made for a good fresh air. I was hoping to see my first bear but no luck so far. I was also regretting putting my gaiters into a box that we are shipping ahead since I thought I wouldn’t be needing them anymore but well I was wrong. It turned out there are thousands of really small stones that easily find a way into my new shoes. I had to stop couple of times because they were super annoying.

In the afternoon we got to our first alpine lake in the Sierras – Chicken Spring Lake. Croco (a German guy that also joined us) and Laurenz took a quick dip and I washed my legs. It wasn’t that warm anymore so I will go for a swim another time. The place was stunning though. The high mountains are finally starting to form and I am enjoying every second of it. The only drawback today was that Sheniad (the Aussie girl that joined us) went off trail to Lone Pine to have her shoes replaced. She was having some pain and will get some rest before hopefully rejoining us at Mount Whitney. Nevertheless, it has been a great time in the mountains so far, would be weird if it hasn’t since I live in the Alps. Tonight we are all cowboy camping again except for Stefi and I am hoping for another good sleep at 3 400m.