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Day 2: miles 16.7-32

I woke to no dogs, bummer. 🙁 They must be early risers like the hikers I heard walking past my tent while I sipped my instant coffee and waited for my oatmeal to soak. I decided not to bring a stove because I’m too lazy to cook on the trail, and it saves on my pack weight. Plus I don’t mind cold food, and when it’s 40° your food gets cold in no time anyway, so what’s the point right?  

I ate my breakfast while I looked out at another gorgeous day full of blue skies…in my underwear. I noticed the sweat hadn’t quite dried from my shorts, so I put them in the sun. However, I didn’t realize this until after I took my sleep pants off. The sun was nice and warm, so a pants-less breakfast seemed like the most logical thing to do. Plus, after living with my parents for 2 years, eating breakfast in my underwear has been a dream of mine. 

I got moving around 10:30, and within an hour I experienced my first trail magic at Lake Morena! Magic Man was sitting in the parking lot with a cooler for of cold drinks. I was pretty tempted to grab a beer, but since the water in the area was super questionable and I was a little low, I went for that instead. Plus after only an hour of hiking I hadn’t really earned a beer yet anyway. 

Shortly after I was reunited with one of the dogs from the night before. Yessss! I had myself a hiking buddy for the day! Naturally a good number of my photos from this day include my little buddy. 🙂

We cruised through the trail, stopping for a breaks in the water so we could both cool down. Our final water break was down at Kitchen Creek. It was a little sketch getting down, but 100% worth it, absolutely gorgeous. We almost camped there for the night, but I had a feeling it would be super windy, so we hiked two more miles to the spot I originally planed. 

As we walked up to the campsite I could hear lots of voices talking and laughing. They welcomed me in and I picked a spot amongst the 10 or so tents and hammocks already in place. It was really fun chatting with everyone while I set up for the night. They shared their stories of the dog from the previous day. Apparently this little guy is famous. Haha Exhausted from the day I turned in early, as did everyone else. Another amazing day on trail. I don’t know how tomorrow will top hiking with a dog, but I’m sure it will. Looking forward to finding out how! 

Goodnight! 

XOXO Becks