Bodie's Red Booties. Day 3. 17.5 miles. 40,739 steps.

Red's Meadow

Rained really hard all night long. Kevin said we were in Washington, not the Sierra's. Reminded him of his PCT hike through Washington. It was a long night with the constant downpour, the wet dog and the pool that appeared in Kathleen's tent!  Lesson learned. Do NOT pitch your tent on the wrong side of the slope, especially in a downpour. Heather and Leah passed us late last night and poor Heather started crying when Bodie greeted her in only his weird way. They are just the sweetest girls. I hope we see them again on the trail.

We walked in the rain throughout the morning hours. Packing a soaking wet tent is not such a great experience, it definitely adds weight and there is no drying off as it continues to rain. What in the world is going on with this weather. My main weather man, Kevin, says it is a monsoon all weather pattern that no one has seen in the Sierra's for many years?  Great. Just what I need?
So nice to have Kevin and Bodie here with us for one more day. After our QUICK breakfast of coffee and my PCT vars we are packed, wet and on the trail by 7am. I have to say with all of my rain gear on and my pack cover secure, it was actually nice walking in the rain.

 We passed Garnett Lake and Rosalie Lake. Came up to Shadow Lake and Bodie ran right up to the campground we had stayed at less than a month earlier!  A big climb out of Shadow lake and then it was a big, long downhill all the way to Red's Meadow.
We had a nice lunch under some big tree's to stay dry at Glady's Lake. The rain stopped around 1 and we continued to Johnston Lake where we contemplated staying. We we're beat, but Kevin said it was just a couple more hours to Red's Meadow. The appeal of a hot shower and a salad at the Mule Cafe was the ticket. We continued on and after a 17.5 mile grueling day we had both the shower and the dinner and a bottle of wine and cheese at our campsite, provided by our Trail Angel extraordinaire. Our feet were done. Actually my body was done. The only good thing was that my bear can was almost empty. Joan decided she had enough and with still .5 mile left she broke into a run to the campsite to get the pack off faster.  It was all she could do at the end of the day. I thought it was quite impressive that she could get her legs to run.

Kevin had reserved the campsite the day earlier when he and Bodie arrived. Impressive that they did 34 miles in 2 days!  He still thinks like a PCT hiker a year later. I am soooooooo tired. Lil' Bodie and his red booties.

Tip of the day.  Keep your clean sleeping socks in the bottom of your bag.