Today is the third of four consecutive climbs. We are again a few miles short of being perfectly lined up, but we are taking all the miles that the trail and our bodies give us. It feels like a hard push more than a recreational walk. I wish we had more spare days and didn't have to push so hard.
Today there is a choice on the climb. The more intense route is up Packer's Peak, while the less intense route is the Lady Gulch trail. Both are big climbs, but going over Packer's Peak adds about 1,500 feet more and is steeper. WILDCAT doesn't yet have his full speed climbing, so we opt for the less strenuous route. That is unusual for me, and I had been planning to hike over Packer's Peak, but the pressure of time is real. The Lady Gulch trail is faint and climbs 2,800 feet, so it is still slow going.
Since water is sometimes infrequent, I start soaking my hiking shirt every time I fill water bottles. I figure that the evaporative cooling is just as good as sweating, and eliminates the need for my body to drink, absorb and then sweat the water. Besides, the cold shock of putting on a damp shirt is fantastic.
My feet continue to blister. I drain them morning, noon, and evening. The blisters on the pads might be getting tougher, as is one inside my little toe. New blisters have started on the top of my foot, just before the big toe. Weird. I've never had blisters there before.
I pretty much put on the knee brace mid-morning every day now. I start each day without the brace to strengthen the knee and then brace it at the first sign of pain.
Fran is waiting with the RV at the base of the next climb. We hoped to get there tonight, but come up about six miles short. We have used about 1.5 of the three pad days, not as bad as it looked at first, but still, that leaves little cushion for the next 200 miles.
13 miles to Trail Gulch Junction, to mile 155.
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