September 14th, 2018
Zero day
Distance: 8 or so walking and riding around town
I won’t bore everyone with all the details of my ‘day-off’, which was spent running around all day. I had to make several visits to the PO and buy enough food for 12 days (300 miles worth of travel through the Sierra). I decided to ship a food box to Tuolumne Meadows.
New shoes!
Speaking of food, I was able to weigh myself and disturbed to find that I was down to 122 lbs. That is probably the lightest I’ve been since high school. Not good. On the other hand, all the weight I’m adding to my pack (bear canister=2 lbs, plus extra quilt weight and layers) is offset by my weight loss. Still, I need to not loose any more if I can help it.
Of course, I ran into another SOBO while at the PO. It was Whip, who I have met several times but never really talked to much. I told him about the trail angels and he was interested in staying, too. He ended up camping in their backyard…which, BTW, is a beautifully manicured lawn overlooking a meadow and mountains. It rivaled many of my best campsites.
I covered all ends of town from west to east (a span of about 5 or 6 miles) on the Lime Bike. It was sometimes a chore riding into a headwind but beat walking. I finally ended up at the east end, visiting the Patagonia store. I tried to see if they would replace my 15 yro capilene shirt, but no dice. I would need to send it in. I did buy some capilene tights to have an extra bottom layer. Darcy had kindly given me a fleece top earlier, so I now felt I had a sufficient amount of clothing…at least all the more extra I was willing to carry for hundreds of miles. I would carry a down suit if just going for a weekend hike.
Back at the house, Whip and I went in 50/50 buying pizza for us and the family. We got 3 larges. It was a great time relaxing, eating, and watching some tv. I began stressing out about how I was going to fit all my new stuff in my pack and finally just decided to leave it for the next morning. I still stayed up until about midnight doing other chores. Another long day…time to get back on the trail.