August 21: Drakesbad

We were back on the trail by 11:00 this morning, the two of us along with Shade, headed south into Lassen National Park.

It was nice to have the company today. We had lots to talk about. Shade is 41 years old, an ex-Air Force man, an elementary school teacher, a Peace Corps vet. We all shared stories of our childhoods, our educations, our work experiences. Shade is interested in social mobility and the American Dream. His family was poor; his parents, uneducated. He wondered about our socio-economic status, where we came from. We talked about Affirmative Action and the 10% rule in Texas, recalling a "60 Minutes" story about a Hispanic girl who was admitted to U of T over an Anglo girl who had higher standardized test scores and a higher GPA, but was in a lower class percentile. Shade firmly believes in the merit of achievement. If the underprivileged girl works harder to overcome her environmental restraints then she definitely deserves the spot over the girl who does a mediocre job on a higher track. We talked about it for a while. He was passionate and compelling.

Later, we all walked separately. The dust was kicking up pretty heavily and it became hard to follow one another closely.

The trail was easy, well graded, soft. We passed a few very nice lakes, into which we would have surely been invited had we no been pressing hard to make the Drakesbad Guest Ranch by dinnertime.

And make it, we did. The last four miles whisked by and as the sun went down Eliza and I celebrated four months on the trail with a nice, full, candle lit meal and a carafe of Burgundy. We'll be back in the morning for the trail-famous breakfast before hitting the road again.