a fire under our butts

Day 53 ~ miles 886ish - 906.8

We slept late again...we have been making a habit of that lately!  I guess our bodies shut off their internal alarms when they really need to.  We have been exhausted!  The plan for the day was to get as close to Red's Meadow as possible (our exit point for Mammoth Lakes), and head into town early in the morning.

A few miles in for the day, and we passed an older (than us) pair that we met briefly on the trail a couple of weeks ago.  They said that they were planning to head into town today.  Moonshine and I exchanged glances, said our farewells to the 2, and headed on.  After hiking on for a few minutes, we agreed that if they could make it into town today, we could definitely make it.  It lit an intensely motivating fire under our butts and we took off.  We hiked hard and as fast as we could with minimal breaks.  We were nearing Red's Meadow, and were about 5-6 miles out when storm clouds began to brew - uh-oh.  Motivation to hike faster grew as the clouds darkened and thunder rumbled.  I was nearly running down the trail at times.  We made it to the safety of Red's Meadow store just as it began to rain, around 5:30...the trail provides!

We bought some chips and drinks and chatted with a lovely couple from Knoxville, small world!   They had already arranged a ride into town with Sugar Mama (a trail angel and former thru-hiker), so we were able to squeeze into the car as well, perfect!

We checked into the Motel 6, where we got clean, ordered the worst and most expensive pizza ever, and lounged while watching tv.  Taking a day off tomorrow, we've earned it!