Hello Everyone,

Well, here I am again laying in my tent sending you this email. I am approximately 11 miles north of Bridgeport, camped next to 395 and Swauger Creek, near Mack Canyon.

I tried to start early today but did want to get up since it was about 50 degrees. I also haven’t gotten into the swing of packing everything up quickly yet, and actually never got the hang of it last time either. There is just so much stuff and it has to be put back exactly the same or it will not fit. It is also important that I place the heavier items near the bottom to balance the Wheelie or it places to much weight on my hips and is harder to pull.

I didn’t have a great night’s sleep I think because of the altitude, though I felt really relaxed at the church, especially after I got a call from Father Roman about 9:30 last night. He is the priest at Mammoth and also travels to Bridgeport on Sundays. He was was very nice and told me that I was welcome to stay there as long as I wanted. He must have read my mind about my amnesty? Had he gotten the message sooner, he would have sent someone to open the church for me so that I could use the facilities. I told him what I was doing and he thought it was great, and said that he would dedicate his morning mass to me. Wow, that makes three nice people that made my day yesterday!

I hit the road around nine and stopped for breakfast at a little stand in Bridgeport and found myself being surrounded by several people who were curious what I was doing. Again, that’s the fun part for me about trekking, just meeting people.

Traffic was still fairly heavy and I don’t know if it was the residual traffic from the holiday or just typical traffic coming from Reno. The road was fairly level for about three miles outside of town and then uphill until I found this site. At the same time the road started uphill, the paved shoulder narrowed to less that one foot. That made for a tough trek since I had to move onto the soft shoulder every time a car approached, and that was often. Stepping on and off the pavement seemed to aggravate my plantar fasciitis and I stopped several times to stretch it out. The temperature was in the high eighties and reached to 93 by about one. I went through both my 32 oz bottles of water and also the two drinks I bought. I only had one extra one gallon bottle since I didn’t want to pulled the weight and thought I’d find water at the Sonora Pass. I was hoping to make it another seven miles or so, but felt like I hit a wall. I have come to realize that when I feel this way it’s best to stop. Fortunately, just as I hit the top of the grade, I notice this clearing well off of the road. It’s fairly secluded and is next to the creek. Nice spot!

It was about 3:30 when I stopped and I had only gone about 11.44 miles. It is actually a great time to end every day since it gives me plenty of time to set up and have time to relax. Dinner was freeze dried Mac and cheese, one of my favorite, but it gives me gas. Lucky I’m alone. I guess you didn’t have to know that, but what pleasure is there if you can’t share with someone?

The town of Walker is about twenty miles, but I don’t think I’ll press it the way my foot feels. There should be plenty of spots to camp and I’ll start tomorrow without any goals, because it’s really about the journey and what I’ll find.

Reception is marginal here and hopefully I will be able to send an update tomorrow. I am ready to crawl into my sleeping bag as it’s getting cold and read my book and enjoy the sound of the creek.

As always, please send me your positive thoughts and prayers.

Ted

And as always too, ignore the typos, grammar, spelling, etc.