Editor's Note: The following is pulled from the journal that I kept while hiking the John Muir Trail this past month. I'll post each entry, each day, for the next few weeks. If you are just tuning in, you can go to the first day of the journal here.
Sunday, July 25th. Longest day yet, hopefully longest we'll have. 16-17 miles or so. Started off great, pounded out of Thousand Island Lake at 6:30am, hiked three hours without a break.
New, strange pain in my right foot/ankle. Not pleasant. Hurts almost worse when I stop. Soaking in a cold creek did some good, but by mile 11, was really painful and needed a couple Vitamin I's. Tired coming into Devil's Postpile [one of the world's finest examples of columnar basalt], and Reds Meadow, which puts the Reds in Redneck. Caught up to Cookie and Babu, ate a big meal in the cafe. Then, a hot shower in the hot spring-fed camp showers...So delicious, our first hot shower. Lots of new people in the backpacker camp tonight, lots of good stories. Tired, and ready for sleep.
-llg