Mile 389.6
Highest elevation: 9406 (Mt. Baden-Powell)
Current: 6747

So many things happened today, I don’t even know which is the most important. It was like a month.

First up: hiker grapevine! Apparently there are two ‘things’ going around. One is a cold-type thing, and one is a stomach thing. When I heard this, I immediately stopped using outhouses (which have appeared periodically in this section at ranger stations and such). At one water source, a young fresh-faced hiker said, “Want some skittles?” and offered me her giant baggie of them. I wanted to say No, no, no, that’s how you spread the plague! But there seems to be a general lack of awareness of hiker-type things like that. Trail sense, trail etiquette.

Also, a lot of hikers apparently got sick after the hot springs. Dudes, did you not see the ‘fecal coliform bacteria’ warning? Also, I hope none of…