The past few weeks have been filled with lots and lots of amazing hiking and very, very little journaling.

I’m currently finishing up the most relaxing zero of the trip so far. A friend picked my up at Barker Pass and I’m crashed at his Tahoe house just a little more than a stone’s throw from the lake and a short drive from Tahoe City. Excellent!

The hike has been spectacular as usual. Snow remained up through Desolation Wilderness with Dick’s Pass being perhaps the most dangerous pass I did the whole trip. Either that or Mather Pass. That happens when you no longer have ice axe and crampons and you don’t let the snow soften up. Before that patch, which was dangerous because of my own stupidity, the Sonora Pass area was surprisingly sketchy. It was actually far more dangerous in my opinion than anything I had done previously (besides perhaps getting myself too exposed to thunder clouds). I even had to self arrest once right before Sonora. Fun!

I’ve been having great fun though. Pepi and I have been hiking together now for the past four hundred miles or so. She’s an excellent motivator and a fun partner. We passed the 1000 mile mark a good distance ago. Sadly it was so horendously buggy that it wasn’t a celebratory experience. We’re now doing 23+ miles per day. I figured that I need to hike 23 miles per day, six days a week, to finish in good time. This distance is surprisingly easy and we’re usually finished hiking around 6:30pm.

Sorry I can’t write more. I’ve got to pack and hit the trail.

PS: Thanks to all of OA for the excellent care package!!