Start: 0800 - near Bouquet Canyon Road
End:  1400 - Casa de Luna
Miles (today): 13 (12.5 PCT, 0.5 off)
Miles (cumulative): 496 (409.5 PCT, 76.5 alternate, 10 off) 
465.5 478

Music is magical.

Towards the end of the day yesterday I came upon two hikers playing music and I almost didn't want to pass them because their music made me feel so good.  

This morning I finally decided to put in my earphones and listen to some tunes.  As soon as the music started to play I felt lighter and happier - it's as if my soul had been starved and I wasn't even aware of it.  The music filled me up and I couldn't contain the joy - I flew past Nick exclaiming, "This is awesome!" and didn't see him again for 11 miles.

It's sort-of like when you watch the Wizard of Oz - everything is just fine in black and white and then, suddenly, Dorothy opens the door to a technicolor Oz and everything changes.  (The new Lumineers album will always have a special place in my heart now).

I still think there is beauty in listening to nothing but the sound of your own footsteps (and perhaps your hiking poles), but I cannot deny the power of music.  I think going a month without music was a bit excessive but there is probably a happy medium there somewhere.

:) 

On our way to the fire station for water, we saw this sign for Casa de Luna

Special K was at the fire station so I told him all about my experience with music.  I was very excited!  He just knowingly rolled his eyes and laughed at me. :)

We hitched the mile to the convenient store in town with Bluebird and another hiker.  Sadly for Nick (he wanted beer), it was closed for some unknown reason. We then walked the 0.5 miles to the house.

My afternoon/night here has been an experience to remember.  Everyone is required to wear Hawaiian shirts.  The first rule is "Don't be a dick".  At 1900 the taco salad bar opens.  You can paint a rock at the rock painting station.  Camping is in the woods behind the house.  There are about 50 hikers here and it's sort-of like a party but not really.  I will say that I haven't laughed so much in a long time - at one point, tears were streaming down my face!  I mean, how can you not laugh at Nick's rock painting attempt? 

Just looking at this picture makes me burst into laughter (I'm in the tent area and need to be respectful of sleeping hikers but I'm having a rough time stifling my laughter. Seriously, tears are in my eyes as I type this!) He was trying to paint something about human beings but got distracted and lost his ability to spell.  (He even asked me how to spell human for crying out loud!)

I painted C-Store's nails (don't ask), took a shower (what?! 3 showers in 4 days?!? Am I still thru-hiking?!), talked with new faces (like Focus), and bucket-washed our hiking shirts.  Then I relaxed.  Three neros in a row seems crazy but, as Dirt Squirrel said, "It's nero week" - many hikers are intentionally slowing down because getting to Kennedy Meadows before the snow melts in the Sierras won't help anything.  

We enjoyed Special K's company at the Casa de Luna 'party' experience.  The next road closure will put him ahead of us -he's hitching around and we have the continuous footpath objective -which makes me sad because I won't get to watch him hike-dance on the trail for a while.

Special K suggested Water Boy as a trail name for Nick (in lieu of Man Hands and Sparkles) because Nick carries a lot of water, drinks a lot of water, and sometimes runs out of water.  I'm waiting for Special K to come up with an acceptable trail name for me but so far the only name I've considered is the one Focus suggested tonight: Apples, because that's the first thing I ask for when Nick goes to the store.  And because I love a good apple.  And because biting into a nice crisp apple is what I miss the most (food-wise) when out on the trail.

Nick went to bed before me. I was enthralled with watching everyone dance for a PCT class of 2016 bandana (I already have one so I didn't need to dance - thank goodness!).  At the end of the night Terrie Anderson told a joke about how to tell the difference between a female hiker and a dead opossum.  Special K and I had to consult each other regarding the meaning of the punch line to be sure we weren't misinterpreting the joke (it was a little dirty).  We walked back to our tents and I laughed the entire way.