I had always wondered how many calories the huge amount of food would contain that we ate day in day out on the trail. So before repackaging yesterday’s purchase,I did the math and came up with a whopping 73,000 calories for 16 days (this equals about 4,500 calories per day). They say that a thru-hiker burns through 5,000 –6,000 calories a day,so I would still lose weight if I did not make up for the missing calories while in town.
Sorting the huge amount of food and packing the resupply boxes for the Sierra Nevada took the better part of the day. I also took a serious look at my gear and send everything home that had turned out to be unnecessary or did not work as planned to lighten my pack. Snow related equipment such as the Whippet trekking pole and long underwear was sent ahead to Kennedy Meadows.
Since Hiker Heaven implements a maximum stay of two nights,we were required to leave before dark. At 6:30 p.m. we were finally done with all our chores and ready to go. We thanked Donna Saufley for the great time we had at Hiker Heaven and then headed back to the trail. Using our headlamps,we hiked until 10:30 p.m. to complete the 2,000 feet climb out of Agua Dulce in the cool evening hours. Right at the end of the ascent,we found a good spot to set up our tents for the night.