◦ Miles: 1432.7 to 1460.6
◦ Trail Miles: 27.9
◦ Miles Hiked: 28.3
What a difference a good night’s sleep makes— I awoke at 0520, packed up and was hiking by 0600, near record time for me. I felt so refreshed.
The forecast was for hot temps. Fortunately the clouds stuck around until late morning and moderated the heat. I even felt a few sprinkles at one point. The trail was back up at 5000 feet so that helped as well.
Once the clouds cleared out, it was hot and actually humid. Many sections of the trail were exposed to full sun. I was dripping with sweat and the sunscreen was running off. I counted the hours and miles until the temps would start dropping
Smokebeard hiking after the clouds cleared
My goal was at least 25 miles today. That would put me in Castella by Monday, probably late afternoon. I have several boxes at the P.O. there: my food resupply, my bounce box and my new shirt. I’ll be able to pick up them up, but the P.O. closes early. I need to sort and then mail my bounce box forward once I’ve gotten what I need. I don’t want to wait until the P.O. opens Tuesday morning. I’d rather get in and get out of there on Monday. There’s a campground nearby and there may even be showers. A shower would be very nice after this heat. I’m already starting to smell myself and I just had a shower yesterday morning.
Hiking in trail runners is dirty
Storm cell building to the south
I hiked ahead of Smokebeard, Bandit, Fish and Sonic tonight, pushing beyond 25 miles and solo camped near a dirt road. After nearly getting run over doing just that in the desert I was very hesitant to do so, but next campsite was small and most likely full according to another hiker. I’d surpassed my goal and was ready to be done. I had another big-ish day planned for tomorrow, in order to get to Castella earlier on Monday. I set up my tent off on the shoulder and hoped the old forest service road wouldn’t get any traffic on a Saturday night.
I was not on the road
It wound up being a non-event. My only visitor was a very curious mule deer as I cooked my dinner.
Here’s a really boring video of the deer as she curiously approached to about 20 ft from me. 7/14 Mule Deer video unedited