It’s my brother’s birthday today — happy birthday Lee!

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The mosquitos were out in the morning, debunking my theory they only were around at night. Sucked to have that one debunked. 

I snoozed my alarm and accidentally fell back asleep for another 20 minute, but despite the extra ZZs, I only left camp 10 minutes later than my usual 6. 

I started listening to a new podcast, Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History, which made the morning fly by. 

Water is less abundant in this area vs what we came from so had to retrain my mind to make sure I was planning ahead for water. It’s been much hotter too (in the upper 60s), so keeping hydrated is more of a challenge. In the morning, the flowers were out and it smelled wonderfully. The afternoon stood in sharp contrast. The last 15 miles or so was through a burn area, which caused a lack of shade and vegetation. The trail was dusty and hard to follow at times. The day ended with surprise Trail magic to the tune of 2 oranges from a fella in a truck. Delectable! 

Our camp was by the river and guarded by hordes of mosquitos. It’s the fastest I’ve ever put up my tent. Then, I ran down to the river to take a dip and filter water (made sure to get my water to drink from the upstream area). Since I hadn’t showered since leaving South Lake Tahoe, the dip in the river felt so cleansing. 

It’s the last day of May (remember, the blog runs a 7ish days behind) and its wild to see my miles vs elevation of this month vs last. 

I climbed an average 229 ft/mile in May and only 123 ft/mile. I guess that explains why I’m so tired. 

Miles: 37.06

Total Miles: 1,480