Today was such an awesome day. It may have been the best yet, though I feel like I might say that most days. What can I say? It’s awesome out here.

This morning, I had an average start, around 8:00 a.m. The weather was pretty good, and I caught up to Dog to hike with him for a while. Though it got warm today, it was not hot, which is the best for hiking. I am slightly worried about the heat coming, and I’ve heard rumors of hikers night hiking and sleeping during the summer days because it is too hot to hike.

Well, I had hiked 18 miles by mid-afternoon, when I ran into none other than Bandit! She began hiking this year and had to leave the trail because of a foot injury. I thought she was so cool, and even cooler for coming back to bring trail magic to hikers! I was so happy to be hiking through when she was there.

With her friend Remix – he hiked the trail in 2007 – they brought the best trail magic I have experienced. They were both so generous and great to spend time with.

Energized by the surprise, I decided to hike farther than I intended, and farther than I had yet. I did a 31 mile day.

It was tiring, but it felt awesome. I ended up finishing the hike with my headlamp, and set up camp at a gap, where a road crosses the trail. Sleeping will be easy after that.