Miles 20-32

So fortunately, the days following my first-full-day semi-breakdown have not been full of woe and plotting just when and how I'd get off the trail.

On day two, after hiking six miles to Boulder Oaks campground, I met up with two other technically-solo female thru-hikers who were hiking together. Names Rachel and Katie. I'd gotten pretty good initial vibes from both of them. Rachel is from Portland, and Katie from San Francisco and now living in Portland (though they hadn't met before the trail).  They invited me to hike with them and I did. Rachel went ahead after a little while as Katie and I hung back to take pictures at "Pride Rock"--so named because I climbed it like a lion (aka walked up it on all-fours) as Katherine sang the Lion King theme song last year.

Katie and I night-hiked for about an hour that night to make it to what was promised by Guthook (a PCT guide resource) to be an awesome campsite. Night hiking is not my favorite (I hate it) and I typically avoid it at all costs, but Katie is really good company and has a genuinely positive attitude that doesn't grate on your nerves, so I decided I'd keep going. We talked about people and relationships and "the world." During our conversation, Katie said something along the lines of, "The thing is that the world is a scary place and there are bad people who do bad things. That's the fact. So knowing that, you have to ask yourself how you're going to go through this world. To go along with the darkness and negativity makes no sense to me. Why would I want to contribute to those things? That's nonsense." She expressed that one of her main goals on the trail was to bring a smile to people. It didn't hurt that she fed me Nilla Wafers that tasted like heaven at well-timed intervals.

We got to the campsite (which was awesome) around 8:30 pm and made and ate our top ramen and cup-o-noodles in silence as about six other hikers were already asleep in their tents.