Day 4

I cowboy camped last night (camped in the open without my tent) and it turned out beautifully. It was a quiet waterless site with no dew.

This was my first view this morning

 A few minutes later, the sun popped over the ridge.

 I took an evening walk last night with my headphones to honor Soulfull Sunday and i dropped a small 2 inch waterproof  cord for my phone. I discovered it was missing this morning and was albe to retrace my steps accuratly enough to find it in the middle of a field. Pretty cool. There was no dew at all. 
I left camp by 8 and walked very slowly to Mt. Laguna. I began to think that my crocks were causing the shin splints so I started off in my sneakers. After a mile i switched back to my crocks. The sneakers aggrivated my blister. I thought i had my shit together and was going slowly enough and i planned to take a day off to be sure i rested and stayed healthy but now i am getting pretty painfull shin splints in my right leg. Yesterday morning my left leg was acting "pre-shin splintish". Now it is fine but my right shin is screaming.  I will have to take it easy and possibly even take a couple of days off. When i got to the campground just outside of town it was still closed for the season and the water was off. There goes my shower and easy resting place!

when i got to the campground, i discovered a
 dumpster with the lid open. It must have blown
 open. The birds had eaten the discarded
leftover hiker food and made a mess. I
 picked up the garbage and hopefuly built
 up some good trail karma.

 I spent way too much time tring to figure out if i could campthere or not. I finally decided not and found a mostly hidden spot just up the hill. i found out later that they will run you out of there so I am glad I took the extra time to find a hidey hole.

 My shin is getting worse and worse with every step. I know i need to rest it but it took me all day to find a hidden camp, set up, walk to town, get my box, visit the camp store, get water, and getback to camp. I think i will need to take several days off here and it is not the best place to do so. I wish i had my bounce box sent here. I need to offload stuff!

The little store is overrun with us hikers. Many of them were enjoying ice cream.

this is the hiker freebe box at the outdoor store. hikers are offloading tons of stuff.  Checkout the pile of shoes!

more disgarded stuff

this next stretch is a bitch with long stretches between water. I want to get to Warner Springs to rest and recoup and get my box but i dont know if i can make it there. I am trying to determine an alernate plan but there is not an obvious good one. An alternate plan means more days and more food needed and this town does not have the best selection. I can't even run around town to do my stuff because my shin hurts so much. There is no cell service here and i really want to call someone. Well, i guess i am getting my trail challenge out of the way early. I am begining to understand the mind games that can go on and the importance of a cool calm head. I do not know how many days this will take to heal. It is easy to say "stop when you feel something is wrong" but sometimes i cant stop because there is no water or camping or i am low on food. I felt that I had to walk the 3 miles to town. I could not have stayed on that waterless ridge for days.

my right shin is visibally swollen and red. I have never seen that before. I an trying some homeopathy but i am also going to try some alieve. This feels like an emergency to me. I think my crocks gave me the shin splint. I guess i need to decide which is worse, blister pain or shin splints.

i think i can walk with blisters...i can not walk with shin splints. So there is my answer, from here on out i use my sneakers. i could panic and get upset but when i calm down and think about it, I have as much time as i need. No worries. I can take stock in the morning and get a lunch at the cafe. Revisit the camp store and ask questions, get a room if i need to. Take the time i need to heal before moving on.

On the positive side, my skirt is working well. I love the pocket that my friend Lavender put in it. It will soon be too big tbough and i will need to take it in.

i have already begun to experience a particular type of trail torture...the wierd song stuck in my head. Today it was "oh ah oh ah come on pretty, tell me about the boys from New York City". What!? I never think of that song. Where did that come from?

This sign is across the road from the
 store. I guess that throwing
 snowballs at through hikers is A-OK!