23 Miles of Ridiculousness - Mile 1041 - 7/20

So I spent and extra day in Bridgeport mainly because it was raining on the mountains but also because I knew I could hike the next stretch in bigger mile days. So Typo and the Michigan Wolverine left on the 19th and Spins and I get to play catch them before they get to Tahoe. We left town and got to the trailhead setting out to do 23 miles except it was already 11:30!

Looks like it might be a late hiking day. Driving up we passed a Marine Mountain Assault Training Center and plenty of camouflaged guys rappelling down cliffs and doing things of military nature. After finishing the climb back out of the pass, two blackhawk helicopters flew over. I took lunch about five miles in and continued on trucking, trying to get as many daylight miles in as possible. 11 miles in I heard a limb crack, looked up to my left and saw a big "black" bear running as fast as possible in the opposite direction of me. Good thing I sent my bear canister home in Bridgeport! The whole time I lugged that thing around I didn't see one bear and the day I ship it back I see a bear, go figure. I also saw a Martin a few miles later which was awesome. Martins are similar to a weasel. So it was getting later and Spins and I decided to cook dinner then continue hiking into the dark. Six miles left after eight in the evening. We strapped on our headlights and made our way to the campsite where we were greeted by the stare of green eyes on the other side of the campsite. Wonderful just freaking fantastic, I figured it was a bear seeing how I saw one earlier and started making noise and throwing rocks. The eyes went away but we didn't hear it run so great it wasn't scared and probably was going to hang around for a bit. I made a huge fire and we set up camp. Tucked my food in next to me tight and went to sleep waiting to wake up to the sounds of some animal wandering around camp. So all and all I made it 23 miles after 11:30 am somehow and I hope I sleep like a baby, super doubt it.