Day 38: mile 493.4-510
Goooood morning uphill! The hike out of the campground was a sweaty one, and apparently the gnats thought my face was a taxi. How is it they only flying right in front of your sunglasses and into nose? 😂
No gaiters, no pants, my legs just wanted to be freeeee today!
Once to the top I was delighted for the next few miles by tree cover and a flat trail. It was time to cruise!
I was really excited to hit the 500 mile marker today. It finally felt like a significant number. I had to do a little work to get there, climbing out of the shade and up several hundred feet, but I got to celebrate twice! Once at the 500 mile marker made by hikers per our GPS app, then again almost 2 miles later at the official mile marker. Woohoo, 500 down and it felt like nothing! I can’t believe how quickly it’s flying by.
Just down the trail a few miles The Guzzler was listed as a water source. Very intrigued, and in need of water, I made the stop to see what the hell a guzzler was. Now the guzzler itself wasn’t the impressive part, it was the sweet contraption someone made to get the water out of the guzzler that was the best part. I say this all the time on trail, if this were any other situation other than a thru hike there’s no way in hell ______ (fill in the blank) would be okay. Example: using a random Gatorade bottle tied to a stick with rope to fill your water. However, while thru hiking you think, wow, this is brilliant! What an amazing person to have sacrificed his/her bottle and rope! I deem thee Guzzler Master.
Genius! 😂 
Post Guzzler I walked into what looked like a huge park. There were rolling hills, big shade trees, and the grass almost looked like it had been mowed. It was so beautiful and unexpected.
At this point it was still early in the day, but I was at a weird place in the hike. I didn’t want to get too far down the mountain because I’d heard the wind was nuts, but I didn’t particularly want to go another 7-8 miles to Hiker Town (not a real town, it’s a hostel), so I settled for a flat spot out of the wind …at 3:30 PM. 😳 At least I had extra food to help pass the time.
Another burrito, yes please!
The sun set and the day was done. I headed to bed for the first time with an alarm set. Ew! I’m planning on being on the trail at 6 am, I feel rushed already. I’ll get into that tomorrow. Wish me luck!
When it goes from hot to cold in 5 seconds. It’s a very confused look. 😂
Goodnight!
XOXO Becks