Day 8

July 10, 2012 (Alexandra) It is quite possible that Jasin may think I have become bipolar on this trip. I started out the day in good spirits - after a long nights sleep. Some crazy dreams come from taking benydrl before bed. We walked to Lake Virginia and then down to Tully Hole in a good mood. Jasin let me use one of his walking poles, so that I had two poles and could propel myself forward and not upset my achilles tendon. After several miles, my achilles tendon was really hurting and then my feet starting hurting and THEN mosquitoes arrived. I called this the tri-fecta of pain. We were being swarmed by bugs! I was moving so slow that when Jasin told me our mileage - I was so defeated that I burst into tears and Jasin promptly called for lunch break and I put on my Chacos with socks (Brianna is cringing right now). We slowly made our way up Silver Pass with me hobbling along. We saw the ladies with labrador retrievers and we chatted with them. We haven't seen any of our regular people today - we must be between the fast group and the slow group. I noticed that walking downhill Silver Pass didn't hurt my achilles tendon so I was back in good spirits by the end of the day. I am constantly surprised at how many Alpine Lakes are along these passes. All snow melt, we passed at least 4 lakes on the way up the pass. We found an amazing campsite by a small waterfall and I washed out some clothes and soaked my ankles. If the sun were higher, I would have taken a shower under the waterfalls. Our campsite looks like something out of a Swiss Family Robinson. Dinner was beef fajitas rice and I ate very slowly to make it last. I can't wait to get to Muir Trail Ranch and eats lots of food. My body has changed quite a bit already - I think I've lost 3 llbs in 8 days. Love, Skittles (pain killer drugs)

(Jasin) Today we 12.6 miles, one hell of day if you ask me! We started at Purple Lake and went down through Tully Hole and then back down. We each had our ups and downs. Alex's feet hurt her and her achilles tendon was bothering her and the bugs were pretty bad. We stopped for lunch and Alex changed her shoes and her feet stopped hurting. As we climbed higher on the pass the bugs went away. My left knee started off sore, this was new but 2 IB Prophin and it felt fine by mid morning. Once we reached silver pass we took a nice long break and then started on our final 3.9 miles. The last 1/2 3/4 miles were almost straight down. I was even nervous at points. There were tons of switchbacks and the rock was very loose, but we made it and both felt OK. I found a site but once I looked across a stream, we saw a better one. We washed our bodies in the creek and soaked our sore feet. We were both pretty tired and with the long day behind us, I promised Alex we could sleep in.