June 27, 2007

At 6:00 a.m. I am awakened by a man singing outside my tent.  You are my Sunshine was Big City Boy's wake up call.  The song sounded like a barbershop quartet.  It was low and surprisingly good.  I sleepily peered outside my tent to find BCB nearly packed.

"Not with the program yet?" he asked.

"Brrrrr!" I replied.

"Perhaps you should begin without me.  I want to linger until the sun comes up," I said.

We talked about the fire ahead and BCB said if I saw him running backwards up the trail this morning without his pack to call 911.  I chuckled but we both realized the dangers of a forest fire.  I broke camp and hiked speedily knowing I'd be close behind.  The winds were very calm this morning when I hiked by a gloriously blue lake.  I took brief breaks to snack and piddle.  Today's hike was business.  I needed to get the 13.2 miles in as quickly as possible.  So I did.  By 12:30 p.m. I had hiked to Echo Lake Resort.

Peach was hitchhiking to Truckee, north of Tahoe, to continue his hike without worrying about the fire.  Yogi decided to continue her hike before the forest service closed the trail.  Journey was hiking onward to meet her husband in North Tahoe.  Ultrabright was penning a 600 word article for her local newspaper.  And me?  I decided to rent a chalet until 30-30 caught up to me.

My plan was to wait until the fire became more than 40% contained.  And...I wasn't going anywhere without a hiking partner.  So today I ate.  I had two ham, cheddar, Dijon sandwiches on wheat bread, a strawberry milkshake with real strawberries, Cheetos, and several cans of 7-UP.  I took a very long, hot shower after a store employee commented on my tan lines.  The tan was actually layers of caked dirt!  And I took a long afternoon nap on freshly scented floral sheets.