Day 87 Miles: 24 From saddle before Gibraltar peak to past Fowler Creek I’d noticed the stars disappearing during the night, which I attributed to clouds, but we wake up to a thick haze of smoke instead. We’re on a saddle, and it’s thick, gray smoke on both sides. “Where’s the fire?”   “I don’t…

Day 86 Miles: 22 From the top of the switchbacks to the top of more switchbacks Between mosquitoes and damp, we hadn’t cowboy camped in a long time – since I can’t remember. Last night was perfect though, open sky, clear night, no moon. We watched the milky way appear as we drifted off, and…

Day 85 Miles: 8 From Milton Creek to top of the switchbacks, north of Sierra city The little campsite, surrounded by ferns, next to the creek, is just as lovely in the morning. I turn off my alarm and fall back asleep, my dreams picking up right where they left off. We have no real…

Day 84 Miles: 20 From Lacey Creek to Milton Creek Not a particularly motivated morning, but here we are, doing it again. That seems to be the trick to thru-hiking – doing it again. The amount of miles you need to hike a day is within the reach of almost anyone who decides to start…

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…

Day 82 Miles: zero Reno, NV Jule follows behind as J and I crash through the grocery store, throwing item after item into the cart. “2 boxes of macaroons or 3?” “How many bags of jerky, 6?” “We’re definitely going to need more gummi bears, throw like 5 more of those in.” “At what point…