May 30th, 2016
Miles Hiked: 17
Total Miles: 503 + 15 extra = 528
Start Location: Cameron Road Mile 566
End Location: Campsite Mile 583
End Location GPS: 35.2240, -118.2333
Spoiler alert! Carolyn decided to keep going! All it took was a good nights rest in the tee pee and an early morning heart to heart and pep talk by yours truly. I’m not sure what all I said but it must have been good! The trail is hard but well worth all the rewards.
We had a really good breakfast near the BBQ place while I canceled the flight and rental car reservations. Luckily American Airlines has a 24 hour cancellation policy…phew.
We hitched back to the trail and started hiking the same 7.5 mile segment we’ve seen twice before. It’s a killer climb out of the canyon but Carolyn attacked it with a renewed sense of fire and purpose. We made short order of the climb and then continued on into unfamiliar territory.
The afternoon was very hot and we took a lengthy break during the hottest part between 2:30 and 4. The forecast for the rest of the week has the highs soaring to the mid 90s in the valleys.
We saw a lot of new hikers today because our original group of familiar faces are now ahead of us since we, in affect, took 3 zero days in a row.
With Carolyn’s renewed spirit she wants to try for 25 miles tommorrow. This will get us to the last water source which begins the driest section of the trail at just over 40 miles (ugh….). I hear there are a few water caches but you can’t really rely on them 100 percent. I have an extra gallon water jug I found and will probably need to use that as well. It’s hanging off my pack like a dingle berry. That much water is going to be heavy as hell when the time comes…
I bought some under armor compression shorts and like them a lot. I’m wearing them under my running shorts I removed the liner from and it’s great. I think I’m going to stick with that combo from here on out. And as a plus, I can still wear my shorts without the compression shorts at night to get some nice breezy fresh air down there!
Onward to the big mountains!
Thi