Mile Start: 91
Mile End: 105
Weather: windy and dry
Morale: extremes
Days since shower: 6 (it's getting pretty bad)
I got the smallest, lightest, single person tent I could, but I forgot I am a 230 pound man! They don't make one man tents for homeboys like me! -Clint
The night of heavy winds was well weathered and aside from waking up a couple times to some gnarly gusts we had no issues. Despite our standard 9ish hours of sleep, we were groggy in the morning and snoozed an extra half hour before breaking camp in record time (30 mins) and hitting the chilly and windy trail.
Our mood was a little low as we were chilled, tired and unable to talk to each other because of the raucous wind howling through the canyon. We moved pretty rapidly for the first hour or two to stay warm before the sun got high enough to help out.
We stopped for a snack and some email time and watched hikers come around a ridge and make their way toward us over about a mile of windy trail. Our spirits were raised as we marched past the 100 mile mark and took a picture with our new acquaintances, Al (Uphill) and Natalie.
A mile later we came upon our water source for the day and rested in the shade while cooking up some of our dehydrated food. As Al and Natalie pushed on to Warner Springs, our “no rush” mantra kept us at the water source and we jumped in with another group of hikers that we have met sporadically throughout the trail. It’s a fun-loving group with lots of laughter and never a dull moment. We agreed to all meet at mile 105 (only 4 miles out from Warner Springs) to camp and slowly trickled away from the great rest spot.
Within the couple mile walk our surroundings changed completely. We transitioned from mountainous desert to lush green hills with flat expanses of calf-high grass that swayed in the breeze. The new biome was a fresh change of pace; that coupled with the new found friends helped us erase the moodiness we felt in the morning.
Our camp spot is ideal with a trickling water source, flat, sandy areas to camp and an area for fire and chatting. We all laid around in the shade for a couple hours cooking dinner (noticing a pattern here?) and laughing at our adventures to date. I’m writing while staring at the half moon. We’re going without the rain fly again; these clear skies with stars galore are simply too hard to pass up!
Look at this grass!
Tomorrow we will jump in to Warner Springs, pick up our resupply box from the post office before it closes for the weekend and then hitch a few miles down the road to a couple cabins that 10 of us are splitting for the evening.
The first hundred miles threw a lot of different emotions our way, but as #trace pointed out, ”they’re all valid and all part of the experience!” It goes without saying that we’re looking forward to many more!
