Day 65: ⛺ @ mile 823.00 - ⛺@ mile 834.8

Day: 11.06.2018 Miles hiked today: 11.8 miles Total Mileage: Mile 834.8 I slept in till 7 am and stayed in my tent for another hour or two! Flash left early in the morning but I didn't hear him. He left me a postcard and it's the best thing I've received on the trail so far. Thank you so much Flash. I hope things work out well for you and hopefully seeing you again on the trail somewhere! Other hikers started to pass me so finally I rolled out of my tent and started to get ready. I hiked for half a mile when I bumped into Philly and the breaker boys. I stopped there for an hour or so for a second breakfast and some chatting. It's soon lunch time and I would like to hike some miles before eating lunch so I move on. However, only 3 miles down there is a beautiful spot where you actually could access the river for a swim or a dip. I meet a Dutch guy hiking the John Muir trail there too. So I stopp for lunch, while telling him about the PCT. Philly passed but she wants to hike on. The breaker boys come along and finally I do see Joanne and Peter again! It's been two days without seeing them. They have just stopped a mile or two behind for breakfast and hence are moving on too. I still stayed for a while. The breaker boys are starting to fish and see there, within a minute a fish is out of the water. But the fish is very little and goes back into the river - lucky guy! Only hiking for a couple of miles I come across the most beautiful meadow I've seen so far! It's an epic place and I wish I could stay there for a day or two. But as I'm slowly running out of food I can't afford this. Philly was enjoying this place for lunch and is just getting ready to leave again. But Joanne and Peter are laying in the gras a little further up the trail and I join them. We enjoy the sun until 3 pm before moving on again. I have so far only hiked like 7 miles! We want to hike as high as possible on the John Muir pass which would be 8 miles if possible. I'm the leader, turn on my music and off we go. We are flying along the trail and it is so much fun. So far I think this is my favorite day. I feel strong, my legs are running up the trail and the scenery is absolutely mind blowing! We have hiked like 4.5 miles and have the possibility to hike on for another 4 miles or take a camp earlier in about 2.5 miles. I'm fine with the earlier camp, so is Joanne but Peter would like to hike the 4 miles more. We will see! The trail suddenly becomes very steep and it takes forever to hike a mile! It's only 1 mile to the earlier camp spot and I can't see Joanne or Peter anymore. Arriving there, I find Philly by the river! I was sweating so much on this uphill hike I was only thinking of a dip in the river! So I take off my clothes and jump in! The water is freezing and I'm out of it as fast as I went in! The spot here is beautiful again. Peter arrives and soon later does Joanne. We decide to camp here tonight and start early tomorrow morning. Let's see if Joanne and Peter manage to get out of their sleeping bags! While I set up my camp and cook dinner a deer literally walks by 2 or max 3 meters ahead of me! That's so crazy! I call Joanne and Peter to come and see. The deer doesn't seem to be impressed by me making that much noise. He just looks at me and eats some leaves of the tree while slowly moving on. That just made my day even more impressive. The wild animals here don't seem to be too scared of humans. Also the marmots seem to be more curios than scared of us :) I'm so looking forward to see my first bear! I hope I don't have to wait much longer. Peter and Joanne have seen a bear mum with two bear babies two days ago! How amazing is that?! So this day was simply wonderful. That's how I imagined hiking the PCT. However, I only hiked a little more than 10 miles today, didn't do any pass but many breaks :) and if I would do so every day i would never reach Canada, sadly. Reality looks always different than dreams and movies but even so we hike long days it's most of the time really nice. Only a fool can't like it out here in the Sierras! Let's see what tomorrow brings.