3 Highlights:
1. Wild Flower’s kiss
3. “Why Buddhism is True” book
3. Two quick hitchhikes
Daily Summary:
• Distance hiked: 18km
• Starting point: Monarch Pass
• Ending point: 1 km from Marshall Pass
• Weather conditions: Sunny
Daily Reflections:
The night before was restless—sleep eluded me as I got lost in a 4-hour Lex Fridman podcast about the Roman Empire. By 6 a.m., I was already awake, wrestling with the air conditioning, sleepwalking through a cold shower, and making tea for Wild Flower. She was heading out for Denver, alongside Marianna from Puerto Rico. The goodbye kiss stung—a weight settled in after she left.
I called Magneta on her 4th birthday. She’s a beauty, that one. And checked in on Pjotr and Harry, which added some comfort to the morning.
I returned to the hostel to grab my backpack, then set off on a food mission. My pack felt like I was hauling bricks. Stopped by Howl for a decent cortado—good stuff. Even bought one for Adam, though he wasn’t around to appreciate it. Then I made the rookie mistake of scarfing down a hot burrito. Note to self: you do not need a big hot breakfast on town days, especially when your body is already on edge.
After two kilometers of walking on pavement to a main road my energy drained like a faulty battery. Tim, a friendly old soul, picked me up after 20 minutes and drove me for 10-minutes up to the highway. Then the universe smiled again; two women picked me up, one of them the owner of the hostel I’d just left. Small world. They dropped me at Monarch Pass, where I was greeted by a closed store when I had hot coffee in mind. I tried the LMNT I received from the nice hitchhike yesterday. It was chocolate. Must have been either very old or a total failed product. An overly ambitious taste of old run over chocolate mixed with sweaty salt clumbing in another wise perfect bottle of filtered water. Nasty stuff.
I started hiking, but everything was off. My neck, my shoulders—it felt like my entire body was out of sync. If Wild Flower were here, she’d be doing circles around me. For a solid 5 kilometers, I considered turning around, the idea of a zero day circling my mind like a vulture.
I took a seat, too tired to move. Did some non-sleep meditation, scared the daylights out of passing hikers and bikers, my camouflage shirt blending me into the background until I was right in front of them. Four hikers passed by, talking about their 56km day plans. They might as well have been talking about climbing Everest.
The nausea hit hard, nearly puked four times. The LMNT? The elevation? Set up camp early, in my tent by 6 p.m., surrounded by noisy youths—a soundtrack too loud for my fragile state. If this is altitude sickness, it might stick around a while. Time will tell.
Lessons learned? Don’t stray too far from the agreed-upon food list. Don’t buy food while hungry (heavy pack). And definitely don’t force it if you’re not hungry.
Listen to your body. Don’t leave town if you’re not strong enough to reach the next one.
I had stunning views today, but they felt empty without sharing them with Wild Flower. I miss her already.
