Day 27

OK, I have been busy hiking, route-finding, sleeping, stretching and eating. My journaling has decreased drastically!!

I spent a needed recovery day at Warner Springs resource center. It smelled funny and was noisy but it was dry. I took a hot bucket bath in the rain. That is where you get a bucket of hot water and a water pitcher and you make your own damn shower. It was great. I knew the next stretch would be hard because of how I wanted to hike it. I wanted to do long days to avoid carrying too much water.

At the resource center...just hanging out

The Warner Springs resource center "detention monitor" setting up the big screen to watch the movie Inside Out. It was good to spend a day at the Resource Center. I started meeting folks and making friends. Oh, and hearing some stories! One young fellow told me that he got diarrhea on his first day of hiking. He thought it would be a good idea to rub sand in his pant and dilute the poo. Then, after the first 10 steps he know that has been a mistake. He was over 6 miles from water and he gave himself a king sized friction rash on his butt. 

One thing I got to do was observe what others are eating...man they are eating crap out there. I mean I get it, I am beginning to crave junk food too but at least I try to mix it up with some healthy food too. The trail angels often give junk food out. I spotted a green M&M on the side of the trail the other day and I seriously considered picking it up to eat it. I am craving my own type of junk food and I am living on chocolate. I eat it every day and if I can find bars with little cacco nibs in them, then I am much more likely to eat when I need to.

Outside of Warner Springs I walked through a campground with at least 40 sites and each site had a "deer hanging hook" thingy. I can only imagine what it looks like with deer hanging everywhere.

One morning, in a sleep induced stupor, I stumbled and fell into a yucca plant. The end of each leaf is a really strong needle tip. I got punctured 4 times in my left calf. The muscular reaction was immediate. My muscles all seized up and spasmed for the rest of the day. I took some Arnica and applied some topical cream but that insult really changed my comfort level for the day.

As I hike, I find that I am falling into a meditative state. I am not taking pictures and I am not journaling. I spend a lot of time focused on my stride and noticing sensations in my body. I will not call them pain because when I calm down and just get curious about it I often find that it is intense...but not necessarily painful. I will be very aware of a sharp sensation in my right ankle for several hours and then realize that I have not felt that sensation for the last 3 miles. Hiking 20 mile days is a mind game more than a body game.

My first night out of Warner Springs I spent at the trail angel Mikes. He is a through hiker himself and likes to meet hikers. He has a water tank on the trail and you can walk down to meet him. When I showed up wet and cold and tired he had food waiting. All I had to do was drop my pack and grab my spoon and dinner was served! What a delight. I was incredibly windy and cold that night. The picture below is the next morning. Lot's of through hikers stayed there.

it was so cold and rainy that morning

I never relied on water cashes but they are out there. This was a interesting sign, the water was cool and fresh!

This picture shows how I often look out over long vistas to see my
PCT trail just continuing on into the forever. See it in the upper half of the slope?

On my day before hitting Idyllwild I had to go one mile off trail to get water. It was a rough, steep, hot trail but I needed the fluids. I took a siesta while I was down there. I tried to hike one day without a siesta and it was a disaster. I just need to do this every day for my own health and well-being. I don't know how the other hike through the heat of the day.

My night on the ridge before heading down the switchback route to Idyllwild. I awoke to a sunrise view from my tent door. During the night I could see all of the lights of Palm Springs (at least I think it may have been Palm Springs)

lots of cute little places in Idyllwild

My dinner was going to be a meaty bar...but when I pulled it from the wrapper, it was covered in white mold. That gave me a great excuse to walk to the health food store and buy myself dinner. That was fun, I love healthy grocery stores.

At the library, they were very helpful with printing a new water report and figuring out the next stretch. I think I am going to walk the next trail closure. It is lots of road miles but it is just walking. At the library they have a map that through hikers mark their home town on. I was the first one to mark Port Townsend! Lots of international folks on the trail. They are fun to meet.

Today I am very busy doing laundry and taking a shower, and mailing packages. It is difficult to find time to rest. I bought a salad in a bag today at the grocery store and made a huge salad to tide myself over for the next week.

I often find in the evening that I do not want to journal or blog. To do that I am often on my back with my arms in the air pecking on my tiny cell phone keys with my arms getting tired and cold. I often find myself in a kind of trance during the day and at night I long to do other things...like eat or stretch or rub my feet or just sleep. I will continue to do some entries as I am able but hiking this trail really is a full time job (volunteer job!)