Leading up to this portion, I had had to plan for a visit from Tim, my boyfriend. He was to meet me in South Lake Tahoe on July 5th. This involved accurately estimating my average daily miles, finding transport to and from the trail, communicating with Tim about our respective responsibilities, and, most importantly and frustratingly, doing so with only my cell phone. I only had reliable cell service every five days or so, in towns or on top of high ridgelines, where I might grasp at a wisp of signal from an unobstructed tower. I hope I’m adequately making my point. On the Fourth of July, I wasn’t close enough to the common access point to Tahoe, but we’d planned to have Tim pick me up at a place where the trail crossed a road. I woke up paranoid that the seasonal road would be closed, that it would be too rugged for the rental car, that I’d be late, that Tim would get lost, and many other possible disasters. We hadn’t made a Plan B and I didn’t think I’d find service before any of these disasters could occur. I pushed hard that day, pulling ahead of Daisy and Tinkle because I didn’t take any breaks. I stopped on a saddle (flat, low point between two peaks) and tried to find service. I was lucky! I sent Tim Plans A, B, and C. Feeling better, I waited for the others to catch up. The rest of the day was much more relaxed, with beautiful wildflowers and volcanic, almost desolate landscapes of red rock.

We made our way up to Ebbett’s Pass, where we found Patty and Maurice, trail angels with some Independence Day magic! They had watermelon, hot dogs, nachos, cookies, fruit, beer, soda, and a well-stocked hiker box. I had been kind of sad to miss out on family celebrations and food for this holiday, but Patty, Maurice, their magic, and my hiking buddies were more than I could ask for as substitutes. To top it off, there were SOBOers (Southbounders) who said that the seasonal road was open. We only did half a mile more, where we found a shallow, warm lake to use our sparklers in. I’d bought sparklers for the day and was glad to use them while dancing in the water and drinking beer. Less chance of being just another dumb hiker who caused a wildfire that way. There was an American flag on top of the mountain to complete the picture of patriotic bliss. Purple mountains majesty, indeed.

Life on trail is never more stressful than when you have to deal with non-trail elements, so my anxieties woke with me the next morning. I got up early and left Tinkle and Daisy behind to try to get to the road early and scope it out. On the way, I enjoyed different rocks (weird what excites you on trail), flowers, and gently sloping trail. I made the “Ten miles before ten AM” goal and sat a minute. I needn’t have worried about cell service. I’d have it all day. However, this gave me more confidence than I should’ve had, because I took a very long break with Daisy and Tinkle for lunch and ended up being late to the road anyway. I said goodbye to the others and walked towards the campground, Plan B. I’d almost made it there when a car slowed in front of me and stopped. It was Tim! Apparently he’d gotten there early, had looked around the campground for me, and then was heading back to the trail crossing. After all of the stress, things had gone wrong and then nothing disastrous happened. I feel like there’s a lesson there, definitely not the first or last of the many trail lessons I’m trying to remember.