This morning I slept in and took my time getting up. I only had four miles into km. It was a bit chilly in the morning since I was near the water. I so excited the whole morning to be doing the km walk. It was nice to do it alone too, I never once saw another hiker. The meadow was filled with so many flowers and rolling hills. I finally reached the Sherman pass road and signed the trail register at 719am. For some reason, I didn't think of turning onto the road to the km store so I kept following the trail. Then I realized I had missed the turn and ended up back tracking a total of .4 miles :( always so sad when that happens.

Sherman pass road, I forgot to turn here.

The road walk to the store was a little under a mile. As I approached the store, there were two off leash dogs that came darting and barking at me. I literally thought one was going to jump on me and start biting my ankles. I walked up to the store entrance and there were a few hikes out on the patio who applauded. Apparently that's a thing at km: people will clap when hikers finally reach the store. All those 700 miles of desert is a big milestone. I heard it's still desert though until you actually start climbing into the sierras. I saw rusty there and lots of unfamiliar faces. The store was not open yet so I went into the back to set up my tent. The camping area was a combination of hiker heaven and Casa de Luna. It was a small tent site but more spread out. There was a giant teepee that people could cowboy inside of, pit toilets, trailers, couches and other random things in the huge lot behind the store. I tried to find a semi shaded spot and pitched my tent.

Literally cannot get all of us in a pic.

As I was walking back towards the store, this kid climbs out of a pickup and asks if I want to come to grumpy bear. It's a restaurant three miles from the store and they give rides back and forth. I guess bc most of their business comes from thru hikers, they are willing to shuttle us. I wanted breakfast so I immediately jumped on the offer. I got into the back and then the hikers just kept piling in. There were probably about 15 of us all in the back of the truck! GB arrived as we were piling in and he ended up getting in as well. The ride was so nice with wind blowing into the back. When we got to the restaurant, there was basically just one menu: eggs, bacon, potatoes and "all you can eat pancakes" aka a huge pancake that overfilled the plate and was so big you can't even finish it. It was delicious though, everything was made to order homemade. There was very bad wifi there and it took forever for me to figure out the pw but I wanted to check in with people that I made it to km.

Looking up at the antler chandelier at grumpys.

We then packed another big group into the truck and headed back to the store. There was so much going on when we got back. All the hikers were awake, the store was open and everybody's boxes were being picked up. I put my name on the list with how many boxes I had and waited about 15 min for them to find it along with a ton of other hikers. I walked around the store to see what options for resupply were. They actually had a pretty good selection of things but were limited in quantity, so once they're gone, they're out until the next time they restock. I want to buy a thing of summer sausage and cheese before I go, hopefully there will be some left. I picked up all my pkgs that nancy had sent me. They all made it! Thank you so much!! The ice axe box was hilarious. Apparently she took it to sip and ship and the guys made a special box in the shape of the axe to ship out. Thankfully, the box was just a little loose when it arrived but it was not damaged at all. Everyone thought it was so funny bc it looked like a hammer haha. I can't imagine what the back room of all the hiker boxes looks like. It must be super organized in order to find them so quickly for us.

I brought my stuff out to the patio where so many hikers were out drinking beers or organizing their resupply. I opened my boxes and started going through my things. So much of my food has gone stale or just doesn't seem appetizing anymore! If I would do this again, I would definitely make boxes in a few towns before and mail ahead to my next stop that doesn't have a good grocery. The things that once sounded good a long time ago, really does change when you actually arrive. I dumped a bunch of stuff into the hiker box and some girl literally took all my food. I then just got a few things from the store to mix in with my food from home. It'll be good mixture I think. The sun got pretty intense throughout the day so we had to keep scooting under the shade. I stuffed what I could into my bear canister and the rest overflowed into my food bag. Everyone else's cans seem so much heavier than mine. I am worried I don't have enough food for seven days. I am sure it'll probably be fine but sometimes I am food paranoid. Since we won't be carrying more than 2L now, our food and extra gear will take most of the weight. 7 days of food smashed into a bear can is H-E-A-V-Y. It's gonna be interesting trying to fit it all into my pack.

Organizing and trying to cram everything into a bear can.

The rest of the day was just loitering around the store. I am so tired of loitering and socializing. It's only been three days since the last loiter so today was pretty rough. I did get to see dudders though! He's always so happy and likes to call me Wang Chung. I did meet this one couple who has felt the same way as me about all the loud party people. I can see why a lot of people just get in and out of towns fast. I ended up paying for a $3 shower out in the back and it was great. I rinsed some of my things in the shower and it was awesome. My shirt was still crusty but it's better than before. Then I loitered a bit more. I just wanted the sun to set so I could lay in my tent.

The sun has finally set and the air is cool. I can hear voices from others but it's not bad. It's actually quite nice here. I am really hoping to see Nate and Meg tomorrow. I have no clue if they will show or not since I haven't had service and they don't have any through Walker pass. It'll totally make my day to finally reunite with them. It's been 500 miles!!