We woke up the next morning freezing, muscles aching more then I can ever articulate, and exhausted from lack of sleep. We laid in our bags for a long time. We chatted about the days journey back and forth, and made our plan. I could feel a tension in the air, like there was something to say that no one wanted to be the first to acknowledge, so I just came out with it.

“Mahala, would you be upset if we turned around.”

“Oh my god I was hoping you’d ask.”

You see, my pride was reluctant to “give up”. I set out for three days, I was gonna do three days. But we talked it out. Why are we out here? To enjoy ourselves. What’s stopping us from turning around? Stubborn pride. What’s there to not be proud of? We might have wanted three days and 30 miles in the beginning, but wasn’t it enough for us to do 20 miles and two days? What’s wrong with that? We decided that it would be better to have a short trip that we enjoyed than a long trip where we were miserable.

And so we drug our miserable butts out of the tent, packed it all away, and got cleaned up best we could. We just decided to put on the same sweaty clothes we wore the day before cause as far as I’m concerned all you gotta worry about is clean socks and clean underwear when you’re backpacking. You can’t convince me you need to change clothes every single day in the woods.

We hike up a little bit and found a log to plant ourselves on to eat breakfast, and by god did we eat. We figured that the more we ate, the less we had to carry, so we tore it up. All the PB&Js, CANNED FREAKING FRUIT, and cliff bars we could shove down our throats.

Do you remember me telling you about how the entire first day was downhill? I bet you know where I’m going with this. It was hell, I wanted to die. Mahala’s mom was so scared we’d get kidnapped or something and we were joking about how we would WELCOME a kidnapping if it meant someone would carry us out to the road. We literally did not care anymore. Every step sent massive cramps up my calves and thighs, my pack rubbed on my sunburned shoulders, my only saving grace was the fact I had taken care of my feet. I didn’t have any blisters, but they were SORE. I was limping.

This went on for TEN MORE MILES. Ten miles nonstop. Ten miles uphill. Ten miles in the sun. Eventually I hit machine mode again, my mind went completely blank and the methodical clunk of hiking boots on packed dirt, and the music blaring from my phone speaker was my world.

Feel free to call me a pansy. I planned poorly and I paid for it. Please, for the love of all that is good and holy, LEARN FROM ME.

But like Mahala and I do every time we are faced with the miserable direct consequences of our actions, we laughed. We joked about what dumbasses we were. We shoved each other up the hill when one of us stopped. We sang and we bitched and we groaned. But really, Mahala and I thrive of this stuff. I swear, the times when things go the most wrong are the times our bond becomes so much deeper and we are the most ourselves.

We stopped at this tiny stream, like one foot wide, cause we wanted to use our fancy filter straws to drink from the perilous water feature. It was like, a half an inch deep but we wanted to feel like true mountain women, so we laid on our bellies and got a couple sips. We sat for awhile before continuing up.

We found our way back to civilization (read: the road) but still had miles until we got to the car. Hiking the rim was THE WORST part. Maybe it’s because we were so close, but so far. Maybe it was because it was 1000 degrees at that point in the day. Maybe it’s because the trail was so steep that we were climbing on our hands and knees with 50(?) pound backs. I don’t know, it just sucked.

We passed by so many day hikers, and we just looked an absolute mess. We met a fifty year old German couple who were hiking the whole PCT and they weren’t even breaking a sweat. Like, could you have the decency to look winded?? Day hikers looked at us with admiration, backpackers looked at us like we crawled from the sewer. It was a trip.

Ladies and Gents, the moment I saw the lodge we were parked at, shimmering in the distance like a freaking mirage, I lost my marbles. I was POWER WALKING even though every step felt like I would collapse. It was still a mile away, the hottest part of the day, and I had exactly zero will to live but I needed the AC like I needed to breathe so we kept moving.

We got to the car, feeling like we summitted freaking EVEREST, and you’re never gonna believe the crap that transpired next. I’ll stick it in the next post, it’s a whole story on its own. Tune in, nerds.