colleen stinchcombe

Time off in Lone Pine was the usual – food, resupply, naps. I got my first real intense wave of hiker hunger and no matter how much I ate my brain wanted more. 
How to tell when the restaurant is full of hiker trash 

The road to Bishop after Kearsarge Pass is currently closed – that’s our next resupply after this Sierra stretch. The group I’m with has resupply there so they’re determined to get there, which could mean up to a 15 mile road walk. No fun. Hopefully the road will open again by the time we get there, as it’s closed right now for potential flooding and damage from the snowmelt. 
I also bumped into Karma and Nirvana in town. It was so good to see them again. 
Right now I’m at a trail angels house with Sole Sister, Co, LiterBit and Diggs. I spent the last two nights at the hostel and had expected we would leave today, but the group thinks we might be better to stay another night because of the high temperatures and high snow melt. Fine with me! And then not even an hour after we decided, we went outside to see a fire on the mountain and learned the road back to the trail and the trail itself has been closed for fire personnel and we would have had to stay anyway.
That said, between some stuff going on with family and not hiking, my anxiety is definitely spiking. I hadn’t even thought about anxiety since I’d been out here because the trail manages it so well. But it’s there, humming. 
If the trail is going to be closed tomorrow, too, we might try to hike Mt Whitney while we wait. I’m a little sad we aren’t on trail for Hike Naked Day (June 21st.) But the group has mentioned skinny dipping, so maybe I’ll get to be naked in the wilderness anyway. 
Tonight I am grateful for the trail angel who is generously letting more than ten hikers crash in her air conditioned home, and to be with a group, and for hiking, where I can remember to breathe and that all I need is to take one step, then another.