I am writing this blog, hunkered down in my sleeping bag, hoping for a repeat of last night's stars. This far from cities, and with the moon waning, the night sky is a pretty amazing show. After a night of star gazing I woke refreshed. I crossed highway 58 and stopped at a water cache. Someone had left some beer as well. Widmer Brothers Dark Saissal. I had never tried it, and the calories couldn't hurt. I sat and let the rich flavors roll over my tongue as I watched the early morning drivers slide by. The beer was good, which is difficult for me to find outside of microbrews. That brought the sum of my breakfast to two packets of carnation instant breakfast, a three musketeers bar, a homemade energy bar, and a bottle of beer. Breakfast of champions.
My pleasant start to the morning lasted another half a mile, when the trail entered a sandy wash and disappeared. The map showed it entering a canyon and heading uphill, but there were several canyons that all looked similar. I eventually had to climb a hill in order to get a view over the wash. I was able to pick out the PCT and, after 15 minutes of confusion, was back logging miles.
The trail climbed 2000 feet before leveling off. From there it spent the rest of the day rolling up and down. Nothing remarkable, but enough to become exhausting after a while. I began getting distant views from my dusty trail. One landscape looked like the spice rack had exploded all over a mountainside (pictured). The eroding hillside revealed salt and pepper colored strata. Oregano, ground mustard, and cayenne were also present in abundance.
As I reached the highest ridge (sweet ridge) and began a shallow descent the scenery changed. It became apparent from the flora that here, just 12 miles north of the pass, there was far more groundwater. Scrub oak mingled with stunted pine trees against a red and orange rock backdrop. The trail became more of a rich dirt, as opposed to dry gravel. As I continued on this trend became more pronounced, which was welcome because there had been no water sources yet. Finally, at mile 17, I reached my only water source for the day (pictured). Yum. A concrete trough with more algae than water. That's water you can break a tooth on. Fortunately I found the pipe feeding the trough and was able to filter water straight from there.
I spent a little over an hour filtering water, washing, reading, and having lunch. The next water source was in 18 miles, so not only did I fill the spare bottle, but I also drank at least a liter and a half before heading out. I managed another 10 easy miles before reaching the meadow I am currently camped in, which brings my total to 27 miles for the day. As I lay in bed writing this I apparently became a local curiosity. I keep my ground cloth stretched out by attaching it to my tentpole. The ridgeline formed by the pole is maybe 2.5 feet over my head as I am lying here, and it was on this ridge that a small bird decided to land. He sat there staring at me for a minute before flying off in no hurry. I couldn't identify the species, but he was cute enough.
Next I heard crashing in the bushes and out came a family of cows. They stood around, maybe 15 feet away, staring at me. I didn't want to get accidentally stepped on in the night so I waved my arms and said "excuse me cows, I'm sure you're very nice and all, but this is my personal space so go on." They just stood there staring. So much for being polite. No amount of waving or talking could convince them to leave, so I resigned myself to company. That is until I felt a bit of gas coming on. Pardon the description but I let out a trumpet blast and damned if that didn't set those cows running (no, I'm not making this up).
Anyway, it's been a good day, so here's hoping I can cap it off with a good night of sleep.
