Day 4 (106)

Miles: 21.6

Mileage: 2,212.5

After a colder-than-chilly night, we woke up in a fog. It took the sun a couple of hours to really start shining. I started the day with my gloves on and even though I took them off after the first 5 miles, it would have been nice to have had them on for a while longer.

After some fairly flat walking through old lava fields, we started to climb. It was warm in the sun, but cool in the shade as the wind picked up and we gained the ridge.

We passed by many lakes and decided to eat lunch by Deer Lake. I soaked my feet as they were aching again. Richard made noodles and we talked with another hiker named Speedy Gonzoles. She started the trail in March and has been plodding north ever since.

My feet felt better after a nearly two-your rest and we put in another 6 miles, spending most of it talking with Speedy.

When we were within a mile of our stopping point we ran into a day hiker we had met the day before and nearly 30 miles south. His name is Mileage Mike and he’s a trail angel with the goal of hiking the equivalent of the circumference of the earth (about 25,000 miles). Yesterday he gave us Oreos which fueled me up the last couple miles of our big climb. And today he gave us some more!!

After saying goodbye to Mike, we hiked just bit further and set up camp quickly. The mosquitoes are out and hungry.