Date: 2016-05-09
From: jerry cabbin shelter

To: hogback ridge shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 29- May 10, 2016This morning I did not want to get up, again. It was later, 7:30am, and it was nice and sunny out, but I really didn't want to move. Dregs spent the morning in the tent making me laugh, but I still wouldn't move. For some reason, when he told me to respond to Diana's text about socks by saying "dobby is a free elf", I lost it and the other hikers camped near by heard. They commented about it once we were packing up. We were slow to get out of camp but loaded up on caffeine, sugar, ibuprofen, and allergy meds before hand with the goal to hike fast to get past rain. Forecast said rain at 2:30pm. It was 9am when we left and would have to hike a solid 3mph to make our goal. If you didn't know, that's fast for walking. The day looked not too bad on the map, mostly down hill and only one large mountain to climb, but that's what we thought yesterday. We set out and booked it up a steep uphill to start and felt good and energized. At the top of the mountain we decided that music would be a good way to zone out and hike fast for our 15 miles. As it turns out, it was a great idea. The gradual down hill allowed us to almost run down the mountains and we kept a very fast pace the whole time. Again, I was in my crocs to let my blisters heal. And again, it was a good idea. We blazed past a few other hikers and then got passed ourself by Strech, who was actually running down the mountain. We came to a road and lucky day, two women were setting up a trail magic cooler. We ate cookies, chips, soda, and split peas while talking to other hikers that came down. We knew we were on track for our original goal, so we kept it short and continued on. Even more so now, we wanted to make our time goal just to prove we could a this point. As we hiked on, we got to the large climb. It was brutal but we powered up a very steep 2.5 miles, stopping only for a picture of a waterfall. We made it to the hogback ridge shelter at 2:45pm and had no rain yet. We were the first to the shelter but five people had stopped in for lunch. There were two guys, two girls with a dog, and fox. We chatted with them for a bit and then they pressed on. We were able to set up in the shelter before anyone else staying arrived. Bombay arrived and then red dragon and a few other hikers. We met a section hiker named Day Hiker, who through hiked in 98. More people showed up and we ate dinner. The shelter filled up quick and dregs got some extra water for funfact cause we couldn't save him a spot in the shelter. Apparently, the water source was very far away. I wouldn't know cause somehow we have made unintentional roles where I set up the tent and make dinner and dregs gets the water and cleans any dishes. Our system has been working out well. Finally the rain started but it was short lived. I'm still glad we got shelter space so we won't have to pack out a wet tent tomorrow. My knee has been hurting from favoring my left leg while my right foots blisters heal. Both feet have heel blisters that have now been popped and drained and the blister under my toenail has deflated a bit and feels much better. If its raining tomorrow I will wear shoes, otherwise I will wear my crocs one more day to dry out the blisters. Honestly, hiking in my crocs has felt much more comfortable than shoes but I trip a lot more.