I immediately knew I was in trouble...my knee hurt so bad on each step down that I was afraid it would just give out and send me sprawling head-first down the trail. Fortunately that didn't happen. I noticed though that on the flats it didn't hurt too bad, and on the uphills it didn't hurt at all. So maybe this wasn't too big of a deal.
By the time we reached Echo Pass (and the old ski resort), I was having difficulty walking, and even the uphills were beginning to hurt. I was also starving, so we stopped for a snack. I choked down a Balance bar, but somehow it didn't sit right, and as we continued down the trail, I started to get heartburn. We crossed busy Highway 50...
...which was somewhat of a shock due to the sudden noise, pollution, and cars, and took a break on the side of it so I could wait for my heartburn to die down a bit. Justin continued whittling...
He finally finished his masterpiece, which turned out to be a little backpacker. It didn't look too bad considering his knife was really dull. Anyway, my heartburn finally subsided a bit and we continued on the trail, knowing that we were only a couple miles from Echo Lake Resort, which boasted a store, and was to be our lunch point. Unfortunately, by the time we reached Echo Lake...
...my knee was in so much pain I couldn't even put my weight on it anymore, and I descended the last couple hundred yards of trail to the resort hopping on one foot...which is tough to do with a 45 pound pack on your back. We took off our packs, and ventured into the store. To my delight, it had a full deli, and we hungrily chowed on some nice big deli sandwiches, chips, and Gatorade. Justin even had some candy.
When we went back outside, we found that a ton of thru-hikers had arrived and were busy sorting through their mail, supplies, and hanging out. I realized about that time that I could never be a thru-hiker. It really hurt my ego when one of the guys (wearing a skirt) said he was going to try to do "just another 15-20 miles" that day. It was already about 2:00. Man, we're slow!
I could still barely walk, so we decided (or rather, Justin convinced me) that we should call my Dad and have him pick us up. It was unlikely I could survive another 2.5 days on the trail when I couldn't walk. I think it was a good idea.
After a couple hours, my dad arrived and drove us back to Auburn. I was really mad that I had to quit, but at least we'd done better this year. We'd completed about 35 miles, as opposed to our roughly 20 miles last year, and this year I felt like we'd actually hiked. If it wasn't for the injury, we would have completed the hike no problem.
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