Mile 1241 to 1221

Was I Dreaming?

I wake as if in the final scene of the final episode of the Bob Newhart Show, except that neither Terri nor Susan Pleshette is lying next to me. What the heck just happened? Was it really just a dream? All night there was a haunting screeching in the wilderness. I thought it was my heart crying for Terri’s return, but the other thru-hikers said a hoot owl kept them up all night. I still have not completely ruled out the former explanation. If not for the half-eaten bag of cherries, and the now full bag of ibuprofen, I would have no tangible evidence she was even here.

In addition to my coffee and Pop-Tarts, I ask Mountain Goat and Klutz to help me finish off the cherries, which are fabulous.

We climb and drop several times between 5,000 and 7,000 feet. Every northbounder I encounter gets the same grilling: Where are you coming from? What do you know about the Sierra passes? Are people getting through? The problem is that most are thru-hikers who skipped the Sierras, and are still heading north after jumping to Truckee. In other words, it was bad when they skipped, and they have no new information. We are worried we did not jump far enough, and that we will be postholing in the snow very soon. We are even trying to slow down, hoping every day of sun will help the melt. We hope to get news in Sierra City of a better quality than we got in Kennedy Meadows, which was completely wrong.

We camp near a creek, not far from Country Mouse and Shadow. Right or wrong, they are on the same schedule we are. BLT and Dish Cloth finally catch up and join the encampment. We build a fire, tell stories and wonder what lies ahead.