Just some weak rain last night, guess the first part of the storm petered out.   Packed up the tent, had breakfast, and joked around with Dan, Bottom, and Blackfoot.   Phd untangled his tent from mine and others, said a few words then left. 

Bottom and I were getting ready to clear out when we noticed that Phd left his hat and pack towel.   That guy keeps dropping stuff.   Yesterday he lost a trekking pole.  Few days before it was something else.   Bottom was ranting that he was not going to carry another guy’s  #%@@#! stuff again.  Apparently this kind of thing keeps happening to him.   I said fine and packed Phd’s crap. 

Plan today was to do hard miles, get through the burned area, over the 8k passes, and down to a campsite at Deer Springs (256.1).   17 miles and a lot of vertical feet.   Storm was supposed to be coming in which had all of us a little nervous.  

I took off alone and started up.

Blackfoot passed me after a few miles, then I found him rolling a blunt on a pass.   Chatted for a while with him and a couple new faces Tim and Sharon from Orange county.   Didn’t see any of them again after that.  

Then the sky became angry.  The dark clouds started rolling in.  

Stopped and put on my rain jacket, gloves and a buff.   Hiked for a bit then the sleet started falling around mile 245.

This is where the layering story gets interesting.   I kept a vigorous pace through the storm, but the temp kept dropping and my feet were getting cold.   I pulled over and put on some long johns under my shorts and went back at it.   Soon my feet were warmed up, but my fingers were now freezing.   Hmm.   Pulled over again and put on my puff jacket under the rain jacket.   Hiking again, my hands started to get warm.   As long as I was moving I was in perfect balance.  Not to hot, not too cold.   

Around this time and Australian guy and I were lapping one another.   He didn’t say much, except that it was “hailing” and the snow sucks.   He had on shorts and no gloves.   Didn’t see him after he passed me for the third time.  Perhaps I mistook his body for a snow covered rock.

The sleet turned to snow and it fell for the rest of the day.   However, I was having one of the best days of the trip.   I wasn’t cold, everything was super quiet, and nobody was around.   I counted 3 maybe 4 passes each over 8.3k.   I only used 4 liters of water on the whole trip.  Compared to the desert, this was heaven.        

I had some interesting flashbacks to my childhood here.   Growing up in Indiana, I’d often head out to the woods to help my Dad cut wood, fix a fence, or whatever during the winter months.   Many times it was in conditions just like this….   A couple inches of wet snow on the ground, sticks and leaves poking through.   Funny I’ve never had a reason to be in this kind of environment since moving to California.   I’ve only wanted to see snow if I can ski it.    

Trail was easy to follow so the whole segment was groovy.  So quiet.

Coming down to the lower elevations around 4, the snow let up a bit.   Started running into some trail magic posters 

This one should have been awesome, but my hiker-trash brethren had cleaned out all the sodas, chips, and left me with some nasty snacks called “Minees” which totally suck.    There were 3 flats of the things still in the box…guess others agree. 

Last couple miles were a little trickier.   The snow stopped, but the accumulation was higher.   It was hard to judge where the rocks were.   I picked through it and got to mile 256 around 6 where everyone was setup.   Nobody was milling around, they were all snuggled in their bags.   Only folks who greeted me were the Swiss couple.   They seem well adapted to this stuff. 

Pulled 17.5 miles today.   Another good day.