Day 8

Garnet Lake to Lake Gladys Junction

Song: https://open.spotify.com/track/1MX4dx6yNvAH2GjIVsUF4h?si=WttgYPjcRPuqB5A90PSvow

Verse: Psalm 91:4

I woke up around 8 from my under the tree camp site. I probably went to bed around 7PM and my body was feeling a lot better than the night before.

One of the things I was forced to notice was a rather severe sunburn developing on the front of my thighs and backs of my hands. I thought I had been pretty diligent about applying sunscreen but apparently the spf 50 I was applying wasn’t cutting it.

For my thighs, I had long white pants that I had stopped wearing because they had become so gross with dirt and oil. It looked like they would need to make a reappearance to protect my legs. For the backs of my hands… I really wished I had remembered to pack my sun gloves, that’s what I needed. Looking through my pack I decided the Injinji toe socks were the closest I would get. I apologized to the almost new toe socks, picked the pair that was developing a hole in the big toe and with my tiny Swiss Army knife… cut off the tips to make the toes into finger holes. Then I put on sunscreen on my face, neck and ears.

I checked my inReach and has a message from Melissa. They had gotten to Red’s last night and crushed 14 miles. Once there they decided it was officially time to end their hike. They would be leaving in the morning to go home.

I added them to my prayer list and got packed up to leave the tree site.

The hike out had a lot of reflection.

I noticed how similar this life style is to the military one. Constantly moving place to place, packing up and going to the next on a mission and making short but deep connections with people quickly. I wondered how many military kids found comfort in thru-hiking.

I then shifted my thinking to the Ancient Israelites as they followed Moses through the desert. How easy it was for them to know God was there. He was literally leading them as a cloud and providing food for them. How although they didn’t have material comforts, they had His known presence. I wonder if that’s why it’s so much easier to experience God in the wilderness rather than in the comforts of the home. That in the wilderness it’s straight forward. Creation, the creator and our relationship with both. I then felt intimately kinship with Moses (Ex 33:15) when God is giving him the promise land and Moses tells God he would rather not go if it means not having His presence. I realize one of the main reasons why I like it out here because it’s so much easier to feel close to God.

Got to Gladys lake eventually and looked around the camp sites. It was a nice lake and of the camp sites were in the trees. Something made me keep looking. I wasn’t excited about the view and was curious if I scrambled to the top of the rocks if I would find something better.

When I cleared the rocks, I followed signs there could be a flat spot (trees) and found a tiny pond that wasn’t on the map. It was like a little surprise waiting for me. I decided this is where I wanted to spend the night and set out to find a flat spot to set up my tent. I had a little difficulty since wilderness regulations say to camp 30 meters (100 feet) from a body of water and the entire area was about 300 feet total. Luckily I found a little camp site that was on the side that was flattish. It actually had a direct line of site to the sunrise.

I set up the tent and checked peak finder on my phone. Turns out I was looking at Mammoth Mountain! I turned off airplane mode on my phone to discover I had 5 bars of service. Although my phone’s battery budget wasn’t very good, I was planning on ressuplying the following day. I decided to use the opportunity to call Ryan and FaceTime my mom.

Both conversations went relatively well. Ryan was dealing with Keiko’s anti social-ness (she has this habit of vacating any room that you happen to be in and it’s hard not to take it personally). My mom was doing well. She still wasn’t over the shock that I was actually doing this trip solo (although I maintain that I told her numerous times). After both conversations, I spent some time looking at the maps. It looked like I had about 8 miles to get to Red’s Meadow. Once there I could charge up my devices, do some laundry, take a shower, collect my resupply and get a burger. I was excited about the possibility of a few luxuries in my future. I finished eating and set up my bed and fell asleep.