Lost Weight

What's the longest you've gone without looking in the mirror? A day? Two? I hadn't really looked into the mirror for weeks until last night upon getting into Truckee. Sure I've glanced to make sure my hair looked ok, or to see how ridiculous my beard looks. This time I realized how much weight I've lost and how skinny I've become. This caused me to proceed to step on a scale and find out that I've lost at least 15 lbs, and that was with a full stomach after dinner. Thing about it is, I feel better than I've felt in a long time. Not much muscle on upper body, not a shred of fat, but feel superb everyday.

To correct this possibly weight problem, I'm taking a zero day here at a trail angel's house in Truckee. After taking a shower as soon as I got here, there was a huge dinner waiting for us. There are 6 hikers here, and we had a feast of SALMON!!!, Ribs, steak, chicken, stir-fry, Corn on the Cob, and Potato Chips. Wow. Today I'm taking the day off for an egg/pancake/coffee breakfast, TONS of little debbie junk foods, bagels with cream cheese, fruit salad, and another amazing dinner I'm sure. CALORIES is the name of the game before I get out and possibly hike all 40 miles into the next town of Sierra City in one day.

Relaxation

A day off in Truckee staying at a sweet cabin on Lake Donner means recreation and relaxation. There are boats, canoes, and kayaks here that we are free to use. I'm hoping to score a bike and ride into Truckee, but not sure if the guy here only has fancy road bikes, which I don't want to be responsible for ruining. At the very least, I plan on getting in a kayak, paddling to the park on the opposite shore, and loafing for hours. Oh yea, there will definitely be some swimming thrown in there too.

The miles, the smoke

I have been flying the past few days due to many reasons. Well, not really flying, but the 25+ mi days have felt really fast because I haven't been allowing myself many breaks. Reason being there is smoke everywhere destroying the views, and there are mosquitoes everywhere there isn't wind making sitting still a lesson in patience.

The views? Well, when not clouded in smoke, they have been of some funky, metamorphic/volcanic (where is geologist Steve Taylor when you need him?) rocks, unlike any I've ever seen before. Lots of really cool, craggy spires...covered in green lichen, and crumble under the touch. Luckily most of the excessive water hundreds of miles south is gone, but not the mosquitoes. Still, I'm not crossing over 20 streams each day via logs/rocks, wading thru waist deep water, or dancing around too many muddy bogs. It's really really really nice to be hiking on dry land again. Really nice.