Day 80, July 6: Mile 1098 to 1125

• Start: Aloha Lake - Mile 1098.4

• End: Barker Pass TH - Mile 1124.9

• Miles: 26.5

• Ascent: 3874 | Descent: 4222

I hiked out by myself in the morning as Squirrel and Stem were planning on a little later start than I was. I cruised past beautiful lake after beautiful lake, including Lake Heather, Susie, Gilmore, and Half Moon.

In the phone transfer fiasco, all of my music, books, videos, etc. that were downloaded on my phone had not been re-downloaded. But on the climb up towards Dicks Pass, I got enough cell service to download my audiobook, which I was very happy about. On the climb, I stopped to chat for a bit with Pippin, who I had met a while ago at Hikertown, as well as a guy who was wearing a paper In N Out hat, which I thought was hilarious. He said it was the group dunce cap and whoever was being a dunce got to wear it for the day.

As I was going over Dicks Pass, I found what I thought was a springy hair tie and put it on my wrist. Later, I kept smelling citronella. I was wondering- was it the plants? Was someone spraying citronella spray as they hiked? I finally realized it was the bug-deterring bracelet. Score!

After a few hours or hiking, I stooped for a lunch break and to dry out my tent. A number of hikers passed me as I sat, including one named Sass. I shared with him the gospel of Cheez Wiz on a Chicken in a Biskit cracker, which Squirrel Daddy had taught me a few days before. Sass said he will now have to buy some in the next town.

I kept hiking on, totally absorbed in my audiobook. I was mostly walking through forests and I enjoyed seeing the moss growing on the trees- not something I’ve seen much of on trail yet! We’re definitely getting into Northern California.

The light of the day was just barely starting to get dim, and I finally made it to where I wanted to camp- Barker Pass, where there is a trailhead with a pit toilet and picnic tables. And lo and behold, I had service and was able to chat with my sister a bit and download music that didn’t transfer over when I got my new phone. I ate cold couscous and climbed into my tent, exhausted after the marathon day.