We started the day at CLEEF with our bottomless breakfast and a talk with the PCT ambassador who checked our permits and gave us each a PCT hang tag.

The breakfast was great. I loved that we had fruit. Although they had gluten free waffles for Toothless and I, we ate some of our leftover pepperoni and cheese and blueberries from last night and the fruit and apple sauce cups. The coffee was amazing.

We used the bathroom and then started on trail. The wrong way.

We eventually found the terminus (after toothless riding my shoulders up hill to get there) and got our photos taken by the Crest Runner.

We headed down hill and had a bit of an up and down morning while we all got used to hiking. Literally. Toothless went up. Then down. Then up. It felt like the first three miles took forever.

After a while though we got our rhythm and toothless was doing some solid hiking then would go on my shoulders for a while and just talk to me. Then after a while he switches over and hikes again.

Generally he was in a great mood all day. He played on trail and kept hiking. He told me unprompted “I had a good day. Did you daddy? I slept well last night. How did you sleep daddy?” And “I love being outside. I’m wearing shorts and I’m not even cold!”

It was a good day.

We finished after around 10 miles. We set up camp early enough for the kids to play. Then Natasha cooked and we ate. Kids went to bed at their normal time after stories and fell asleep promptly. Natasha and I sat in the (now) cool tent while the sun was still out, looking at photos on our phones.