Friday, May 8th -- Day 16

Today was, so far, the most physically challenging day of my life.

Woke up at 5:15 to a shout from Steve, another hiker we camped with last night. Took way too long taking down camp, but we were moving by six-thirty. We crossed deep snow drifts, and lost the trail a few times, although not for long. After we crossed Fuller Ridge, it was finally time to descend. Tom and I pulled far ahead and started making our way down the mountain. We'd been under the impression that the trail leading to the desert floor would probably be about seven miles. It turned into a much longer hike. The trail led around a basin at a very, very gradual decline, switching back every once in a great while. We could see a town far below that never seemed to get any closer, no matter how far we'd gone. As the sun set, we pulled out our headlamps for night hiking. I saw a tarantula, and another spider that I can only describe as truly horrifying. Altogether, it took us about five hours to make our way down to the desert floor. Legs were killing me. We found a note at the bottom telling PCT hikers that there was water at a certain address. We followed the directions to the house and found two men sitting on a deck watching a baseball game that was on TV inside. Tom and I sat with them and a woman came out and offered us cold drinks if we rooted for the Angels. Of course, we did. After demolishing big cups of lemonade, a bowl of peanuts, and a box of M&Ms, we made our goodbyes and headed to their garden hose to fill up our water bottles. There, we found a cooler full of oranges, which we pigged out on.

Also, I found a big rock that looks like a shark! I took a picture.

G'night!