Northern Yosemite to South Lake Tahoe

Left to right: Sneaks, Focus, Pony, St. Alfonso

Hi everyone! I haven't been keeping up with my on-trail journaling, but here's a quick synopsis of the last couple weeks:

First of all, I'm hiking with a new crew. After Scooter and Boulder departed in Yosemite, we also lost Dog to a stress fracture in his foot. I wasn't even around when it all happened, so I didn't get a chance to say goodbye. Everyone said that he was in high spirits and had a very positive outlook, which I don't doubt, knowing how well he handles adversity. He's home in PA now.

The crew

Skidaddle and her SkiDad

I've been really lucky to have stumbled upon an awesome group of people to hike with for these last 200+ miles. My most consistent hiking partner in this stretch has been Focus, an Australian who we have hiked with a lot in the past, but who I'm walking with all the time now. He's an outdoor educator, wilderness guide (etc) at home, and has great stories about guiding and the teens that he works with. Giddy Up and Wocka Wocka are a couple from Boulder, CO who started on the same day as me, but whom I'd never met. We walked out of Tuolumne Meadows together, stopping twice to swim in waterfalls and rivers in just the first six miles, and I thought, yep, these are my people. They met while working in wilderness therapy in Utah. Their buddy Sneaks is along too, and I love camping with him because he always gets a campfire going right when we walk into camp. We've also been walking with a young couple from Bellingham, WA, Pony and St. Alfonso, who I've hiked on and off with in the past, but never as consistently as this last stretch. Also along with us are Skidaddle and Beer Float, Skidaddle's dad (SkiDad), Kazu from Japan, and "the newbies", Hannah and Nate. So yeah, BIG GROUP. We are all jumping around a bit, but have camped with everyone together a number of times, which is really fun.

Giddy Up and Wocka Wocka

Here are the things I love about these people:
1. They are super positive, inclusive, and supportive
2. They like to play word games while walking
3. They have campfires every night
4. They like to stop and play in pretty places
5. They are all really independent
6. They have good stories
7. They all act like camp counselors (which many of them are). For example, every night we go around the campfire and share a highlight of the day. It's a really cute tradition.


We've been passing through some really awesome, different country recently. The geology has been really varied, but since I don't know anything about rocks, I'll just quote Focus' blog: "Going from granite to basalt to metamorphic to conglomerate and back again all in the one day would have those geology kids out there drooling. Lakes like mirrors, people cut from the same stone as all those amazing friends i left at home, A PORCUPINE! no bears seen :( wildflower meadows flanked by volcanic plugs, blue green swimming holes, waterfalls, mosquitoes, calories galore and so so so much more." 
Yeah, it has been that good.

Wouldn't YOU pick me up??

What else?? Oh! We hit the 1,000 mile mark last week. I thought I'd feel more...proud? I don't know. Really every day is just as lovely as the previous and I don't want this experience to end any time soon, so racking up the miles isn't as thrilling as I expected. I am feeling incredibly lucky to have been granted this life and these walking days.

In fact, I'll tell you guys about one night thought that came into my head the other day. Focus and I were walking all morning and talking about all the places in the world that we each want to visit. South America was at the top of his list. Ethiopia and India are topping mine at the moment. He was telling stories of diving in Thailand and I started thinking again about Southeast Asia. I told him all of the things I love about Central and South America. Anyway, we're in this cloud of wanderlust, walking through these gorgeous woods and we stop for lunch in a pretty ordinary meadow. Pine trees around, green grass, yellow flowers. As we're heating up our food, he asks, "if there is anywhere in the world you could be right now, where would it be?" and honestly, whole-heartedly I thought, RIGHT HERE. Nowhere else. Not India, not Oaxaca, not Seattle, not some island in the Pacific. And I thought back on these last 2.5 months of walking, and I realized that not ONCE, not a single moment, would I have wanted to trade places with anyone, anywhere in the world. This whole long-distance walk has put me in the perfect moment, every moment. Not that it has been perfectly easy or perfectly beautiful, or perfectly mosquito free (ha ha), but every day just feels RIGHT.

So I'm in a good place. Here are a few more pictures. I've got to run if I'm going to check out of the hotel on time and get back into the woods!!! XO, Dance Party

PS a few of the good riddles I've heard:

1.What goes up a chimney down but not down an chimney up?

2. 10 is 3 and 3 is 5 and 5 is 4 and 4 is the magic number. Why is 4 the magic number? (hint: 11 is 6 and 6 is 3 and 3 is 5 and 5 is 4 and 4 is the magic number)

Just south of Sonora Pass

This is seconds before I accidentally tear down this sign. Clumsy Dance Party...

What is this mushroom???