Day 7

July 9, 2012 (Alexandra) It's officially been a week on the trail! And my body feels it. While all last week my muscles hurt, now its how we are dealing with joints and tendons that are hurting. Not good. I slept horribly last night due to the caffeine & sugar high from our lunch at Reds Meadows. No sleep = miserable walking day as I woke with no energy and wasn't able to go as far as I planned. My left achilles tendon was super painful and my feet are sore as ever. We did another 7.5 miles before lunch and I was hurting. Jasin was so far ahead of me at one point that I stopped and rested for 10 minutes on my own. After that we decided he should stop every 30 min and wait for me to catch up. Today was a struggle. We only made it to Purple Lake, 9.7 miles total today. Tomorrow I will need to make up stopping early today. We are making good time, its just I worry about pushing too hard and getting an injury out here.. which would horrible and I would still have to walk out to civilization for help. We saw Fred and the boys this morning - they are feeling all the walking this morning as well. Tomorrow is alot of up and down :( We will try to get an early start in the morning (I'm just not excited about getting out of my sleeping bag). Dinner tonight was mac' n'cheese! We saved the mac n cheese meals for our end of the week meals. I do wish there was more food. I'm so excited about Muir Trail Ranch - I hope they have Doritos! Love, Burnt Out

(Jasin) Well today we got a slow start in the morning which was foreshadowing for the day. Alex was slow to get out of the tent this morning which was OK. We were just about packed up when Fred and the boys walked by. They got another early start from Reds Meadows and had done what we did yesterday afternoon. The day's goal was Virigina Lake but we only made it to Purple lake, which is 2 miles short. Today was tough. We knew the stretch between Deer Creek and Duck creek would be long and dry - and it didn't fail to meet our expectations. This was our longest distance between junctions, with no landmarks so it was hard to tell where you were at. My knee started to part part way through and ached most of the rest of the day. At one point I got into the zone and forgot to wait on Alex. I stopped and after 15 minutes waiting, she still hadn't caught up so I walked back to check on her - and then there she was - pissed off I had gotten too far ahead. In true woman fashion she yelled scenarios at me where she could have been eaten by a bear and I was too far away to even know. So, new rule. I must stop every 30 min and wait for her, which is what usually happens anyway. We stopped for a long lunch at Duck creek after finally seeing flowing water after 7 miles of no water. As we were nearing Purple Lake Alex said she would like to stop there for the night. At first I was little shock and disapointed not to make it the final 2 miles because I like to make the goals we set and I still felt good to go. But, as Alex reminds me, this is not a race and we are in no hurry. We had mac and cheese with beef tonight for dinner and used the salsa packets I took from the Amtrack train. We are only 35.7 miles from Muir Trail ranch and our next food drop and have 5 days worth of food. We should make it in 3.5 days well ahead of schedule. Physically I am doing very well. I am sure we will make it. Mentally, I know we will want to finish ahead of schedule, but part of me wants to slow down and enjoy it. Everyday has had amazing views and been a great experience. Tomorrow we hit Silver Pass and shoot for an 11.5 mile day.