I Stared At The Ground

Miles 13.9

Camped at mm 267.2

We had to walk 1.6 miles from the hostel back to the highway, and we got a hitch from Carlos within 2 minutes of sticking out our thumbs. He was great company, and after going with him to take shoes to his daughter at school since she’d opted to wear slippers but needed actual shoes, we were off to the trailhead.He was sufficiently horrified by the story from yesterday, and it was nice to talk about it to a stranger. By the end of the car ride, Carlos and Anji were friends, while his cute dog Widdle and I were fast friends in the back seat.We waved Carlos off, and then we were alone once again.We passed waterfalls and red berries still wet from the rain, but I stared at the ground. Anji brought a salad on trail and tried out a new fancy water filtering system, but I stared at the ground. Anji walked through fields of flowers…and I stared at the ground. We climbed a giant pass and all I heard on a loop in my head was: “I wonder if this works as well on women as it does on bears…”…and I pictured Bosco’s face.And I climbed.And I stared at the ground.