Sunday, July 8th: Silver pass and Virginia Lake. Mile 893.5. Silver pass was a bitch. I only threw up once on the way up though! There was a mile of really steep almost New Hampshire like terrain but then it started to mellow again. This pass was another one that took all morning and then some. It was on the way up that I realized that I hadn't showered in 9 days and I suddenly felt rather grimey. I decided to go for a "swim/bath" in one of the shallow lakes on the way down Silver pass. Oh, what a difference a little water can make! Past silver pass was another mountain and another decent. Then came Virginia lake. After getting to Virginia lake I really wanted to set up camp there. It was so beautiful. I was tempted to cut my day short in order to do so but I really wanted to push the last few miles of the day. I ended up camping alongside Purple lake, which was far less beautiful and the water looked like dirty New York beaver dam brook water. I drank it anyway. It was my last night on trail before town so I was more than happy to make up all my food. Even after eating everything but a few snacks for tomorrow I was still hungry. I filled my belly up with water in an attempt to fool it into being full and went to bed shortly thereafter. The mosquitoes are out in full force. There were so many in my tent I didn't bother to count. Every breath I took it seemed one ended in my mouth or up my nose. I tried to stick it out and make it through the night but I was being bitten so many times I had no chance of getting any sleep. Thats when I decided to go a knockin' on Baboons tent. After about 5 minutes of saying his name, shinning a light in his tent, and shaking his tent wall he finally woke up and let me come in to escape the biting little devils. It was a tight squeeze but we made it work. I didn't care about the smell emeninating from ever orifice of his tent or the piles of dirt and dead bugs on the floor of his tent. All I cared about was being able to say "fuck you" to all the mosquitoes buzzing around his tent not able to get in. This thought alone put me right to sleep.
Monday, July 9th: Reds Meadow. Mile 906.6. I woke up this morning more excited than I have ever been before for town day! Maybe it was because it was such a long hard stretch or how dirty I felt. Although, I think the real motivation was food and cold beer. I woke up famished! I hiked 13 miles with the mantra " food and beer. Food and beer". It was rather successful. The last few miles before Reds Meadow was very reminiscent of a Dr. Suess book. I felt like I had walked right into a scene out of The Lorax. Every tree was burnt and cut down. I had walked into a giant massacre off truffala trees! Im guessing there was a burn there a few years back and they came in to cut the burned trees to prevent future potentially dangerous blow downs.
Red Meadows was nothing special. My original plan was to get to Reds Meadows, eat at the cafe, and then find a stealth camp spot for the night. In the morning I was going to take the bus into Mammoth and take a few days off in town. Shortly after arriving in Reds Meadows, however, I knew the chances of me staying there for the night were low. The pull of town was too strong. I ate at the cafe then saw the bus to town pull up. Without thinking I grabbed my things and beelined straight for the bus. All the seats were taken so I had to stand for the 30 minute ride. I didn't mind. I was on my way to a shower, pizza and beer! I soon realized that I was an absolutely repulsively smelly hiker standing on a bus with a dirty pack strapped to my back. I had on a bright salmon colored hiking skirt with a sweat stained blue long sleeve sun shirt on. My face was covered with dirt much like a child playing in a mud pile all day. My hair is all tied up in knots and I had cuts, scrapes, and countless insect bites all over my body. It was then that I took a good look at the other passengers on the bus. Every seat was occupied with a perfectly clean and fresh smelling tourist with a camera either around their neck or in their fanny pack. They all carried bottled water they had purchased at the gift shop (despite the abundant fresh potable water that was rushing down the waterfall that they no doubt traveled to see). The one woman said to her exhausted husbad, "Today was our most strenuous day. We hiked 1.3 miles to that waterfall! The other days won't be as difficult as today was." It was on this bus that I began to feel a bit of a culture shock. I felt uncomfortable being around these people. They looked at me like I was a spectacle worth taking a picture of. I felt a sudden dislike for everyone on the bus. They looked at me like I was trash yet they have no concept of the journey I'm on. They don't understand the reason I look the way I look right now. They don't know just how much sweat or how much determination I needed to get to that point to be on that bus. They sat in their nice little plastic bus seats and consumed themselves with a delusion of nature.... Then I felt compassion. I realized that my feelings were simply due to the culture shock and I began to feel better. I felt even better upon arriving in town! I got a room at the motel 6. I think the moment you become a thru hiker is when you choose food over shower upon arriving in town. Showers can wait. Food cannot!
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