Out of nature into the city

Knowing we had a hike out and a decent drive to SF, we got up, ate breakfast, packed up, and headed down the mountain. With our packs feeling much lighter, and a mostly downhill hike, we were loving backpacking. It’s crazy how much theee days worth of food weighs.

We took the John Muir trail down, which was a bit farther, but not down steps so it was much easier. It was also a very beautiful hike. We came down through the valley with the views of the beautiful rocks the entire time. 

We passed some horses carrying up a bunch of lumber. I always wonder how they build these structures high up on the mountains (bridges or bathrooms, etc), because flying the stuff up would be way too expensive, and humans couldn’t carry them. It all makes sense! It’s cool how one person on a horse can lead 4ish horses unmanned up a mountain. 

We got down the mountain much faster than expected, and actually got to the car by 10:30! We put all of our toiletries and food back in the car from the bear box - no one took any of our stuff. We quick organized before heading out. We stopped about 6 miles later because we couldn’t help but jump in the beautiful river! It was super sunny and hot so the water was too inviting to ignore. 

We ate leftover lunch, and headed out to SF! It was about 3-4 hours, and we arrived at Alexs friend James’ apartment, which he generously let us use while we are in town!

Our drive was fairly easy, getting into San Fran around 4, with plenty of time to transition to wedding mode by tomorrow morning. James apartment worked out great! We were able to unload and reorganize our camping/backpacking stuff and repack bags for the wedding this coming weekend in Milwaukee. 

Both of us fairly tired out, we decided on ordering food in and just relaxing with some Netflix. We showered, finished packing, and enjoyed a rotisserie chicken from MF Chicken (highly recommend) while watching three episodes of Housemaids Tale. After that we called it a night.

Big shout out to James for letting us use his apartment even though hes not in town. Despite the initial key situation, it’s a perfect spot for us to stay and keep our valuables so they aren’t sitting in a car all weekend while we’re gone. 

Tomorrow we head out on a flight to Milwaukee for a few days to celebrate Matt and Mary’s wedding! I’m going to pick this up again on Monday, June 11 when we fly back to San Francisco. Or maybe I’ll put in a note about their wedding, since it is part of our summer adventure, who knows!