To get my eight hours, I ended up getting up at 2am. The moon was shining through the branches and I filtered enough water to reach the next spot. Packed up — I had only set up the inner tent body against insects. The idea was to walk without a headlamp. That worked well, as long as there weren’t too many trees throwing strong shadows.
Except for one spot where the trail ran along a slope, looked fine, and turned out to be broken away. I stepped into nothing and tumbled a short distance down the hill. Luckily I came away with just a small scratch on my knee. Probably slower than I had planned, given the dark and the number of collapsed sections along the way.
By sunrise I reached the campsite where the others from the day before had slept. The sunrise was genuinely beautiful and I took some time to watch it. After that I didn’t feel like walking on right away, so I caught up on some sleep in the grass. Sunrise was around 6am; I woke up again around 9am and carried on.
Where the others had camped, I made my last stop — the last chance to fill up water before sixteen miles without a source. I drank, talked to other hikers, and waited. I set off with far more water than I needed, still respecting how hot it had been two days ago. After the first of three climbs it was clear I wouldn’t drink all of it. I used some to cook lunch — instant pasta, not particularly good and not as calorific as I had assumed. The calorie count was for two packs. I carried on with three litres.
A hiker I’ve seen several times now crossed paths with me again. A cheerful one, walking with another hiker. We kept overtaking each other throughout the day. Otherwise the trail was quiet. We climbed up to over 8,000 feet and dropped a fair amount too. The terrain is genuinely mountainous, but not in the Swiss sense — no rocky peaks, still forested. I could even see some snow in the distance. The sole of my left foot still hurt from the day before, mildly annoying. Otherwise I worked through my snacks, trying to reach the daily several-thousand calories, which is harder than it sounds.
I walked the last stretch with another hiker. We caught up with the group from Nitsy’s again. We reached a campground at the end of the sixteen miles, where water is available again. One hiker built a fire, so I stayed. Around nine hikers there, fewer than expected — some had pushed on a few more miles. A pleasant evening. We sat around the fire, talked, and at some point I cooked dinner — not on the fire. Good, funny people. I set up the inner tent again because of the water nearby and the mosquitoes. Then I went to sleep.