Mile 77.3

Day 5 - 6 Summary

+ High: met Tanya and Kate

- Low: left foot hurting continues

• Best Gear: Black Diamond Alpine Trekking Poles ( When your feet hurt, trekking poles make a great difference.)

The morning is still windy. I recovered from last night’s misery and decided to face the brand new day in a positive attitude.

Michael needed to do his morning stretch, so I started the day by myself. Soon I met Tanya and Kate again on the trail. Tanya is from New Zealand and Kate is from Yukon, Canada. They met back in Hong Kong in their teens when Hong Kong still belonged to UK, the last gasp of British Empire as they said. Their friendship lasted over 35 years. They were really delightful to walk with so I stuck with them. They are both experienced hikers and they walk relatively fast comparing to my pace. I had to make some effort  to keep up with them.

This was a hot day. We took a nice lunch break at a large tent site with Miss Puh and several other hikers. After an hour break, we were on the road again!

By the end of the day, we reached to mile 68.2. Best day so far.

Day 6

Based on the experience from yesterday, we decided to wake up at 4am and start walking at 5 today. It was still dark out. The first experience of walking in the dark. To day’s goal is Scissor Crossing, the famous Scissor Crossing.

The trail was relatively flat. We got to Scissor Crossing pretty fast. I also got my trail name on the way to Scissor Crossing. Tanya named me “Fast Learner.” She felt that I learned pretty fast along the way and was doing pretty well. Kate agreed. I’m pretty happy with it!

It’s only a 9 miles day and Julian! Here we come!!!