May 2 | Miles 587.3 - 608.9

I was the second one up and out this morning, my feet in the dirt before 6. Still in my puffy and leggings, I hit the road as the sun began to shine above the ridge.

The morning was quiet and calm. I passed a husband and wife with a dog named Blessing. Bunnies darted out from behind desert scrub. I sat on a big rock in an open grazing area and ate my breakfast of imitation Froot Loops with powdered milk from my old peanut butter jar. I was biding my sweet time.

The trail tested my hurdling abilities as it wove through a mess of blowdowns that nearly sent me faceplanting (a few times…)

After that, though, it was pretty smooth sailing. I wove through an increasingly piney green forest sprinkled with tall trees and wildflowers.

The 600 mile marker came and went. It was a little less dramatic than the others as it was cobbled from pine cones. But still, my word, that’s a lot of dirt we’ve traversed.

I was running so far ahead of schedule that I was nearly done with the day by 2. We were camping at the only sure bet water source before an 18 mile dry stretch, so relaxation was the name of the game.

I perched on a nice rock about .7 miles out from camp and ate the remnants of my Sour Cream & Onion Lay’s potato chips while watching a nice babbling brook.

20 minutes later I rolled up to the spring to find Store Brand and Vulture. Some snacks, cards, and one jar of cold soaked parmesan pasta later, we set up at the nice flat campsite at Landers Meadow and had ourselves a little bonfire.

Around 7, a spunky blonde woman pulled up in an old red Pontiac with a 24oz Smirnoff Ice in one hand and a flavored tobacco vape in the other, introducing herself as Paiute Mama, the local trail angel. After a round of hugs she was pouring the remaining Ice in Store Brand’s water bottle and offering us a ride out from Walker Pass, where we’d be in two days’ time. She took a few more big pulls from the vape and was off again in a cloud of dust, leaving us both confused and enchanted as we rolled out our beds and drifted off to sleep.