Day 40. Sunday, April 9. Mile 524.8, elev. 7726 ft to mile 533.6, elevation 7475 ft, and 1.1 mile off-trail hike to Mormon Lake Lodge. Walked 9.9 miles. On trail, 8.8 miles, with 438 up, 690 down, total grade 127.9 ft/mi
Dear Trail Friends,
This was a partial rest day. I showered, did laundry, had two hot meals and now will sleep on a bed.
Photo 1 is my breakfast.
Photo 2 is the sunny morning walk through pine trees. These woods fascinate me. They are almost exclusively pine trees (at home, we have fir and cedar and a few pines) and there is basically no understory. Just the trees and grass or rocky ground.
Photo 3 is my evidence that it froze last night (very thin ice on a puddle in the trail.) it was my coldest morning yet, despite the sun. (The bad news is that my new down pants did not arrive as promised. I or the wonderful young man who took my order and worked hard to get it here on time messed up the street address. Que sera sera. I guess that's a good Spanish equivalent for it is what it is.
A disappointment here was no cell coverage and inadequate wifi available only at the restaurant. But in the evening a young man told me he had gotten a little ATT coverage in a nearby parking lot. I went there and got to hear Chris' voice for the first time since probably Wednesday. The sky got very beautiful just then and that will be photo 4.
Tomorrow we begin the 52 mile hike to Flagstaff. I am hoping I can hike it in 3 days. Which might make possible completing my whole hike except of course stopping at the Broken Bridge (which River has transformed into a holy pilgrimage site for contemplating the tragic aspect of life) instead of Ribbon Falls. It just occurred to me that anything that goes wrong or makes me miserable is just grist for the mill in a pilgrimage about tragedy. An oddly comforting thought.
Thank you for being with me on this half rest day.
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