Day 83
Miles: 18
From Donner Pass to Lacey Creek

I bid a sad farewell to Finn the bulldog, then Jule ferries us back to the trail. My feet hurt badly still, but for the first time in a very long time, I’m not hungry. We’re going to have to break ourselves back into trail life.

It’s nice, not too hot, sunshine on the trees. There’s more water here than is marked on halfmile’s PCT maps, and the landscape rolls back and forth between granite and volcanics. One particularly nice little spring is named Unconformity Spring. As geologists, we feel obligated to drink from it, and we fill up our water bottles.

We pass the Peter Grubb hut, which looks cool, but we don’t stop. I’m feeling susceptible to getting hung up, and not getting our miles in. We do stop to talk to some other hikers who look too broken-in to not be PCT hikers. Definitely PCT hikers. We hike with Pillsbury and Namaste for a while, and it’s nice to have some conversation through some unremarkable forest.

I was hoping for twenty miles, but there’s water at 18, and my feet are angry with me. Ibuprofen takes off the sharp edge, but not the deep, shooting pains. A deer spends a long time eating grass right next to our tarp, which is unsettling. They seem much bigger when you’re looking right up at them.

I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that my new shoes and insoles will help with the foot pain eventually. Maybe tomorrow will be better.