Today we could sleep a bit longer because we “only” had 22 miles (35km) to go that means we slept till 7:15am! Wow. Unheard of on trail. We packed everything and hiked out at 8am. It was already getting hot but at least the terrain is mostly flat and among actual trees that provide some shade. The morning was a little bit emotional because me and Stefi had a difficult talk. We like spending time with each other but hiking doesn’t always match up. That means Stefi walks faster in the morning or uphill and I walk faster in the afternoon or downhill. That means we either have to wait for each other somewhere or one of us has to slow down which can be stressful the “slower” one. It’s a bit of a struggle at the moment especially since I haven’t been feeling well since last week. Hopefully we can find a compromise that works for both of us otherwise well I started solo and if something goes south I would continue solo. Neither of us should be stressed or miserable. That’s not what we are here for. Even if we have bad days we should still be able to enjoy ourselves.

One of the reasons I started alone was because I enjoy hiking alone when I am back home in the Alps. Unlike many people I don’t mind being by myself. On the contrary. I love hiking at my own pace, making breaks whenever I need to and just do my own thing. After our lunch break we visited a cool cave that was a little side trip from the trail and when we got out we met Aces, Prez, Diva and Ketchup. They decided to do the 24-hour challenge today and hike straight to Burney. Ann, Lorenz and Traffic cone decided to skip and went there directly from Chester to allow Ann’s blisters to heal a bit longer. We will get there on Saturday morning and probably see them as well. Would be nice. Once we got to our tentsite we had to get water which was a little downhill off the trail but at least we got to clean our legs that have been extremely dirty the past days due to the dust and ashes in all the burn zones. Tomorrow it’s going to be 100 days that I am here. Here on the Pacific Crest Trail. In a way it feels like forever already but at least now it’s closer to Canada than Mexico.