Start:  0700 - PCT mile 570.5
End:  2230 - PCT mile 593
Miles (today): 22.5
Miles (cumulative): 610 (509 PCT, 89.5 alternate, 11.5 off) 

What's up, trail?  Why are you testing me?

Despite getting to bed around 0100, I woke up at 0430.  I probably should have tried to get a few more hours of sleep but the sunrise was so beautiful that I decided to eat my breakfast while watching the world wake up instead.

I let Nick sleep in a little longer than I probably should have (he was sleeping pretty hard) so we got a later start than we intended.  Oh well.  While we were packing up, I thought I saw Luke walk by (we met Luke and his sister, Sara, back at Warner Springs but haven't seen them since).  We exchanged good mornings but he didn't seem to recognize me so I thought maybe I was mistaken.  About 15 minutes later I saw a hiker who looked a lot like Sara but she didn't seem to recognize me, either.  I figured I was just too sleep deprived.

Hiking was good for about 3 hours.  I stumbled upon a hiker taking a break in the shade and it WAS Sara from Warner Springs (now Sith; Luke is now Jedi, go figure).  I stopped and took a break with her.  It was great catching up  - she said she wasn't paying too much attention when she passed me that morning (which is completely understandable).

As nice as it was to reconnect with Sith, sitting in the shade reminded my body that it was running low on sleep.  Getting up to continue  hiking in the heat (which by now was pretty intense) was really rough.  After an hour I could barely keep my eyes open.  I cannot begin to describe just how tired I felt!  I worked the night shift for over 7 years and in all that time never felt so exhausted.  My entire face (particularly my eyes) hurt with the effort of staying open.  For a while I told myself that it's all just good training for when I do an Ironman (or maybe an ultra); sadly, after several miles my eyes hurt so much they were watering and my brain felt like it was melting in the heat.  

When I caught up with Nick (he didn't stop to talk with Sith for as long as I did) my tenuous hold on keeping it together disintegrated.  Poor guy - he knows me so well and I feel so safe with him that I find it impossible to put on a front when I'm around him (although I know he wishes I would). He told me we only had 0.3 miles to go until the water source.  0.3 miles?! I broke just 0.3 miles away from the end? This knowledge made me feel even worse and tears of disappointment in myself welled up - how could I not have hung on for 7 more minutes?!?  Am I that weak?

There were a lot of hikers at the water source waiting out the hottest part of the day.  Sitting down and closing my eyes felt incredible!  I didn't want to move.  Nick purified some water and then went to work rehydrating dinner (while on this new schedule- hike from 0600 to 1300 ish, wait out the heat, and then hike from 1800 to 1100 ish- we decided to eat our dinners at the water sources so we wouldn't have to carry as much water).  It took effort to eat because I wasn't feeling hungry but I forced it down anyway - I knew my body was so messed up that I shouldn't listen to her.

It wasn't long before Special K appeared.  I can't say I was too surprised - I just knew he'd catch up to us.  It turns out the hitch he took this morning dropped him off at the wrong trailhead and he 'skipped' 8 miles (although he would have caught up with us regardless).  :)

Nick and I tried to nap, Nick being more successful than I because he blew up his mattress and because he has the ability to ignore the flies that land on him.  I still can't keep myself from swatting at the flies when they land on me so I eventually gave up on a nap and chatted with other hikers instead, like Polaris and Special K and Jedi.   

We resumed our hike around 1830.  It's amazing how much of a difference hiking in the cooler temperature of the evening makes!  We left before K but OF COURSE he passed us on the trail.  I heard him yell when he passed Nick and I really tried to keep him at bay (when I passed Sith I even jokingly told her not to let him pass her LOL) but I'll be dammed if he didn't suddenly appear behind me with this maniacal grin on his face.  I give up!!

We stopped and chatted with Luke/Jedi and a few new faces we met at the water source (In Door, Joseph, and Margaret) for a bit.  Later, as the light faded, we stumbled upon K's camping spot and so chatted with him a bit.  Then we pressed on.  

I was fighting exhaustion and concentrating on staying upright when it happened - I stumbled into this big bushy plant.  A bushy plant with purple flowers and hairy stems and long leaves.  A plant that looked suspiciously like Poodle Dog.  It took my brain a second to register this fact and then suddenly I was yelling to Nick, "Poodle Dog!!!".  How could this have happened? I thought we had passed the poodle dog infested part of the trail and was once again hiking in my running shorts.  Not poodle dog!!! 

Nick, as always, was wonderfully, infuriatingly calm.  He walked through it too (it was hanging over the entire trail so he definitely touched it) but didn't seem phased.  I, on the other hand, was having visions of red, itchy blisters covering my arms and legs. How can he be so calm all be time? I mean, it's wonderful and all but it makes me feel so weak!  Sigh. :). We did what we could to wash it off (oh, the precious water!) and then continued on.  By the time we found a place to camp I was so mentally exhausted that I couldn't think straight.  Poodle Dog?!? Really!?!

Along the trail :