Lava was the theme of the day.

We walked through lava fields and lava flows. Through burns and one little patch of not burn  that was quite refreshing. The air was still enough and the sun bright enough that it slowly cooked our brains as we plodded through the miles of ridges and flows.

We kept hopschotching with Battery a thru-hiker from Germany we had met at the campground last night. Each time she stopped to snack, or we stopped to eat gummy worms and gummy butterflies, we got to know her a tiny bit better. By the time mid afternoon rolled around, the three of us had stopped to pluck huckleberries together. Battery was headed to Sisters from Santium Pass this afternoon, and we were stopping sooner than that at a pond that was reported to be both small and big.

As the day progressed, our feet and muffin tops felt the miles, but we were quite pleased with our 17 miles for the day. I thought we would see more thru-hikers, but we had to take into account the triple vortex: MacKenzie Pass, Big Lake Youth Camp, and Santium Pass offer hikers the delights of town, resupply and showers.

All in all, we spent the day focused on our feet, being careful not to trip and scrape our faces off on the jagged lava rocks.

Dinner was a NEMO-made mac and cheese special. Going horizontal was dessert.