Day 9

July 11, 2012 (Alexandra) Oh dear Lordy. Today we climbed Bear Ridge! What a bitch. 2,000 ft incline, straight up for 2.5 hours! Crazy switchbacks that never ended! Jasin got tired and hungry, hence he got cranky. We ate lunch at 2:30 pm and then realized we phone reception, so we called the moms. I was devastated to learn that my mom's care package won't make it to MTR in time. This sucks. Jasin also says I have my hopes up about MTR. I have been hoping for a coke, doritos , snickers bars, and more. I have been talking about possibley taking a rest day at MTR. We have been going strong so far! Exciting thing happened today as I was walking this morning through a meadow when a white bandana blew into my path - I excitedly picked it up and found it was printed with all of the wildflowers of yosemite! My mom was supposed to send me a new bandana, and the trail sent me one instead. I stuck it in my pack and carried on my merry way. What an awesome find. After starting bear ridge, we met several people who were doing trail work and removing downed trees from our path. By the end of the day, both Jasin and I were hot and dirty so I picked a spot where bear creek pooled, threw down my pack and informed Jasin that this was it for the day and we were going swimming. The water was freezing but felt oh so good. Then we rinsed out our dirtiest clothes and sat in our last hour of sun to dry - it was like tanning pool-side. Dinner was basil pesto ramen - delicious! We have been moving so fast that we are arriving to JMT two days early - so we have two extra dinners! Tomorrow night we might get two dinners each! Yippe! At times during the day I get annoyed that it is only day 9. We have a long way to go still on this journey. Love, River Queen.

(Jasin) Today was not a great day. We were shooting for 11 miles but we had to climb Bear Ridge. I have a few choice words about this climb but I will leave them out- but it was one hell of a climb. Their were so many switchbacks I lost count we drank a ton of water and filled up wherever we could cause it was pretty dry. Once we reached the "top" we had lunch we were both tired and hungry which showed with a little yelling. We had lunch and I pulled out the phone to check for service and we were able to call the moms. Alex is pretty sad about not getting her mom's package. I am not sure what to expect from MTR but I think Alex might be a little disappointed. I have a feeling we might be spending some money on a room there. We could both use a rest day but are both driven to finish early and possibly head to Seattle for a day or so. 9 days in and I am doing ok. Starting to feel some wear and tear from the abuse of 8 hours of walking. The last 1.5 mile of our day today, Alex took the lead and then we took a dip in the stream.