Day 66: mile 1069.1 – mile 1092.3

Elevation gain: 3,462 ft

Elevation loss: 5,034 ft

The 72 miles we put in over the last three days was totally worth it in order to see my in-laws after such a long time, shower, eat, and now lie in this super cozy hotel room bed! But don’t get me wrong…it wasn’t easy and our bodies tried protesting many times. We knew what our day had in store for us today so we set the alarm for 5am which allowed us to see the gorgeous sunrise. We hadn’t seen that in a while, and our tent site was perfect for it!

We were walking by 6am, which is, apparently, the deer’s breakfast time as well.

The scenery was gorgeous this morning, so even though we were in a hurry, we always make time for photos!

Check out these snow bridges…yikes!
Even though we wear gaiters, we have been getting a lot of pebbles in our shoes lately!

We continued to walk through quite a bit of snow today even though we fluctuated between 8,000-9,000 ft of elevation most of the day. Plus we had Carson Pass right after breakfast.

The clouds were ridiculously stunning today which made for some super cool shots as well!

We were actually feeling fairly energetic before lunch which was surprising. It’s so funny how every morning when I get out of the tent it literally feels like I’m 100 years old. Everything is stiff, and many muscles/joints ache. But as soon as we start walking, it always amazes me how quickly our bodies remember how to hike, and everything feels great again! So we stopped for lunch at 1:00 and had about 15 miles under our belt. Link even surprised me with a Snickers bar that he had been carrying since Kennedy Meadows North…it wasn’t even melted and, oh, so tasty!!

Only 8.8 to go, but it might as well have been 50. Every incline felt too steep, every decline had too many rocks for our weary feet to maneuver around, and every minute seemed like 10. “It will all be worth it once you get there”, I told myself a thousand times.

When we only had about 35 mins left, we needed an added boost like nobody’s business. So we called Maddie and told her we needed her to entertain us before we lost our minds (Max was at work😁). She literally came up with story after story of what’s going on with her in Berkeley while we huffed and puffed. And then there it was…Echo Lake, Barb & Vic, and a comfy, cool car.

It was so great to see them after many months and even greater that they were willing to drive 2 hours to pick us up and take us to their home! We feel so lucky to have the most amazing support system between family and friends…it takes a village to make this happen and I love that so many people are a part of making this dream of ours a reality! Thanks ALL!! ♥️ Since we got here a couple days early, we now have some extra time to catch up with family, eat Barb’s amazing home cooked meals (this seems ultra important since Link has lost 20 lbs and I have lost 18 😳), use Barb’s fab sewing skills to mend some items, run errands and basically just relax. And…BIG BONUS, Maddie will come over from Berk to visit (last time before Thanksgiving ☹️). Thanks for reading guys, Double Down