Start: 0830 - foot of Tamarack Peak
End: 1645 - Hobkins Lake
Miles (today): 19
Miles (cumulative): 2673 (2423 PCT, 175 alternate, 75 off)

As I woke up this morning I thought about my first marathon.  The last 0.2 miles seemed endless - I remember thinking, "where is the finish line already?" and "really, where is it?".  Suddenly, just as I was starting to despair, Candee jumped out from the sidelines and ran with me for a while.  I enjoyed every single second of the race but that moment was my favorite of all - Candee was there when I needed her most and I'll remember running with her for the rest of my life.

Now, during the final moments of this thru-hike, Candee is with me again via her card.  I read it again this morning and it made me smile.  I'm not sure what I did to deserve such a wonderful friend but I am forever grateful.

I am also grateful that the weather seems to have held yet another day - we woke up to frost on the tent but the sun was there, warming up the world and making me so very happy. 

With the sun it was warm; without the sun it was cold - we are definitely pushing our luck these days!

Early in the day I passed someone who had finished and was on his way back to Harts Pass.  When he found out we weren't planning to make the monument today (I know!  Crazy!), he suggested camping 6 miles back from the terminus at Hobkins Lake.  I mentioned this to Nick at lunch (we met by pure happenstance) and asked him what he wanted to do. (Our plan had been to camp 4 miles back, the closest camping to the border near water, but that spot was on a pass and might be windier and colder.)

Why aren't we going all the way to the monument?  Well, we both decided to take it easy today. We could have pushed ourselves and made it, but we would have gotten there too late for us to be able to linger AND we'd be tired (and potentially cranky).  Instead, we both wanted to get there happy and fresh. We also wanted to relax a bit on our last full day (OUR LAST FULL DAY!) of hiking the PCT - no matter what happens now, the fastest way out is north, to Canada.  Barring a bear attack or something crazy, a finish is pretty much guaranteed.

We decided to stop and camp at the lake.  This means an extra hour to hike tomorrow, but stopping early was worth it.  Firstly, the switchbacks going down to get here were steep and very annoying.  Secondly, not too long after Nick set up the tent and started a fire, it started to hail/sleet/precipitate on us- we were glad we weren't still hiking when it hit!  Thirdly, it's nice to stop hiking early and have more time in camp on our last full day of hiking the PCT.  OUR LAST FULL DAY OF HIKING THE PCT!

Happily, the precipitation eventually stopped and we were able to enjoy Nick's lovely fire while eating our last dehydrated meals on the trail.

As we were enjoying the fire, we burned our garbage and then decided to burn some food we were sick of carrying, like our peanut and almond butters.  It felt great to get rid of that extra weight and, as a bonus, the oil in the nut butters burned really well (Nick though it was like napalm when he was trying to put out the fire, though).

Just as we were going to sleep (early) we heard some hikers coming down the switchbacks- I hoped it was Dirt Squirrel, Sprout, Yucca, Woodsmoke, and Chili, but it turned out to be some hikers we didn't recognize.  

Meep! Meep! (the endearing sound of the pika - I'm going to miss it).

Along the trail: