I did a "catch & release" of Tina and Kevin at Ebbetts Pass, mile 1050 of the PCT, and now they are back on the trail and are camping tonight near mile 1067 after traveling today through what is both a land of many lakes but also a land of tremendous mosquito swarms. I gather they had a pretty rough day of it between the bugs, the climbs, and Kevin's foot problems.
Foot problems? Yep, like his father and grandfather, Kevin has flat feet and came into Ebbetts Pass having suffered with a fair bit of pain in his insteps and pronounced swelling where a normal person has an arch. We finally managed a podiatrist appointment in Carson City where the diagnosis was tendonitis but without enough time to see to the real cure (2 weeks off and 3 weeks total getting custom orthotics) and so he was sent on his way with some reasonable looking off-the-shelf orthotics and was told to go up to max on Ibuprofen for the remainder of his hike, if needed. I understand that he was alternating those orthotics in and out of his shoes today trading one kind of pain for another. Nothing quite like the fun of having every step hurt!
Despite all this, Kevin and Tina very much enjoyed their first few days on the trail from Sonora Pass to Ebbetts and are very much enjoying the scenery and hiking together.
Late tomorrow they should transit Carson Pass, which averages 75 feet of snow per year. Often it is only opening about now but this was a low snow year in California and so no problems are anticipated. I plan to pick them up at Echo Lake near South Lake Tahoe in another couple days.
All the snow has done so far for them is cause falls into mud and water and hopefully it stays that way. Oregon and Washington had higher than average snow on the trail and so that'll be more interesting.
Happy Father's Day, David :)