​Day 33: mile 406.6 to mile 430.4 (Messenger Flat Campground)

5.18.18. 23.8 miles.

Another record breaking day! I’m surprised and proud that LOL and I made it this far because we got off to a slower start since we had a ton of condensation (& some frost!) on our tents & quilts.

We immediately started climbing up from camp to the first water source of the day: a tiny spring with a slow flow and tons of bees flying around, but we needed water. We kept climbing until we got to the spot Dead Zone & Excel & others slept but saw no sign of them since we were pretty late. The descent was pretty nice into the fire station. We read on our guthook app that you could get pizza delivered to the fire station, so when we were 2 miles out we placed an order for a large cheese pizza and a 2 L bottle of coke, and when we strolled up to the parking area, our pizza was there! It was glorious. LOL didn’t pack enough food again and I packed way too much food for this stretch, but I wasn’t about to miss out on pizza like last time. And I drank a full liter of coke. It was pretty amazing.

After eating it was chore time: finish drying out the tent & quilt from this morning, filter more water for our 20 mile dry stretch, get snacks together, etc. I even washed my feet & rinsed a pair of socks since the fountain was over a very muddy area. After our 2 hour break, we needed to get going again.

We had a moderate climb up from the highway and then it was a pretty nice hike up until the last big uphill. The views were good, but there was so much smog, which was kind of sad. We had some service along the way, and LOL was coordinating some trail magic for us from a friend for tomorrow! She’s going to meet us at the Acton KOA for lunch and bring some yummy food, and we are soooo excited! Knowing that made the rest of the uphill slightly better. That, and podcasts.

When we got to the very top of the climb, the sun was setting and we had such an amazing view. This was the first sunset I really experienced on trail and it was magical. It was just so pretty! We couldn’t believe our luck with timing!

We aren’t camped with the others again, but we’re all planning on getting to Agua Dulce tomorrow night to stay at Hiker Heaven. If we get there, it will be my longest day on trail yet! I’m really happy with how my body is holding up. It hasn’t protested too much with these back-to-back 20+ days, but I’ll see how I feel tomorrow night! Vitamin I has definitely been helpful.