I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of rain hitting my tarp. We had seen on the weather report that there was a 90% chance of rain, we everyone set up their tents/tarps before going to bed and we were all glad we did. It rained quite hard for a while but luckily there was no wind so nothing underneath my tarp got wet. Once I was convinced that everything was dry, I let the rain lull me back to sleep.
In the morning I awoke before everyone else and set off on my own. It was only four miles to Warner Springs, my first resupply town and I wanted to get there before the showers got crowded.
When I arrived I met a bunch of hikers who had stayed there the night before and I chatted with them a bit as I tucked into some eggs and pancakes. Pretty soon most of them set off for the day so I went to take a shower. The shower water was hot but the stall was outside and the cool morning air gave me the goosebumps, but washing my hair and seeing the black dirt slough off my legs and feet. While there, I scrubbed a few of my clothes then hung them up to dry. I felt like a million bucks for the next few hours. It was $8 well spent.
By the time I was done, Eric and the rest of the crew had rolled in and a few of us got a ride to the post office to pick up our resupply boxes.
The next few hours were busy but relaxing as I hung up my wet tarp to dry, repacked my bag, and checked the hiker box for any goodies. A lot of people buy or pack too much food and end up leaving it and other gear for future hikers. There was a full jar of Trader Joe’s organic peanut butter that I almost took, but that by itself weighed one pound. I did, however, take some bars and candy to supplement my lunches which have been a bit scant.
After talking to Jacob for a bit and checking email, I was feeling well rested and relaxed. Merkel, Meta, and Dead weight were also ready to go so we set off together and meandered down the trail, taking our time. Meta stopped after about a mile, but the three of us carried on for another four. We found a beautiful campsite next to a babbling brook where we laid our sleeping bags out and whiled away the afternoon and evening.
A bit later on, a guy called Infrared came along and joined us. We ate dinner and then played a dice game that I taught everyone. That game made carrying the ounce of dice worth it.
Once it gets dark, everyone tends to wander off to sleep since it gets cold enough to want to be in your sleeping bag. I tend to stay up pretty late, which means I go to sleep between 8:30 and 9 pm!
Here are a few pics from today.
Eagle rock
Tire swing fun
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