We slept in this morning and the rest of the gang went to grab some breakfast while I stayed at our hotel and caught up on our blog and showered and relaxed. We finished up our chores before meeting Far Out at the cafe downtown at noon. He was very patient waiting for us to get our fill of coffee and ice cream before heading back to the trail. We were so grateful that he was willing to drive us back to the trail because it was a 45 minute drive away!
When we arrived at the trailhead we snapped some group photos and gave Far Out hugs goodbye before setting off on our uphill climb to start the afternoon. Luckily it was breezy and cool, making the climb a bit easier. We didn’t have a set destination for the day, but planned to stop and assess at a spring about ten miles ahead. Well actually it was 12 miles but we somehow did our math wrong and thought it was ten miles away until we got there.
The terrain was already changing into rocky mountains instead of bare sandy desert hills. It was strikingly beautiful and we snapped a lot of photos. We passed Bam Bam on the way to the spring and found out Pebbles is nursing a chronic leg injury and they may be getting off trail, which we were sad to hear.
We got to the spring around 5pm and debated whether to camp nearby or go another 5 miles to the next water and campsite. We decided to press on and the next five miles went by pretty quickly. We saw a snake too!
We got to the campsite to discover many tents already set up in the woods but luckily found enough space for the five of us. We cooked dinner and chatted. I eventually went to fill up my water at the nearby creek and when I came back I discovered a Smirnoff Ice in my pack!!! I had been betrayed. You see, back in Kernville Tofu had secretly bought a Smirnoff Ice and told me she wanted to “ice” Wolf Bird. If you aren’t familiar, “icing” someone was popular 5-10 years ago and is when you hide a Smirnoff Ice for someone to find and if they find it they have to immediately take a knee and chug the entire drink. I told Tofu that I’d help her get Wolf Bird so I was appalled she would turn the tables and ice me.
When I discovered the drink, rather than chug it, I made a proposal. I suggested we continue the icing (hiding it in each others’ packs) until town and whoever ended up with the drink in their pack when we get to Kennedy Meadows would be the one who has to chug it. Everyone agreed and so began the distrust within our group!
After that fiasco we soon went to bed and I already plotted to hide the Smirnoff Ice in Wolf Bird’s pack before setting out in the morning so I could avoid carrying the extra weight.