Day 6: The Desert Is Throwing Us Curveballs.

May 16th, 2021

Mile Marker: 144

Miles Hiked Today: 27

Planner and I both slept in this morning till 5:30 am. 😂 We both had slept so well curled up in our sleeping bags so it was hard to get out of them. We both felt recharged after some actual sleep.

We packed up our belongings and headed out in our warm jackets as the morning proved to be foggy, windy, and very chilly. It made us hike fast to warm up and found ourselves passing a lot of the hikers we saw at the community center in Warner Springs.

We felt great and zoomed up the mountain while talking about our dogs. I told her about getting Jerry in Ethiopia and all the joy and stories he led me to have. It’s strange how much we can truly miss an animal. Like we connect to them in a special, different way. I wondered if he would remember me if I ever went back to visit.

After 10 miles of up and downs through the foggy mountain we found ourselves at “Mike’s Place”.

It was about a quarter of the way off trail but one of the only other spots to get water. We found ourselves in front of huge tanks and were glad to have the water even though we didn’t need to drink nearly as much with the cooler temperature. It was a perfect spot but since the weather was unfriendly, we headed back out to warm up our bodies.

We once again, hiked a few miles and were suddenly outside of the fog and questioning where we were and where we had come from. When it’s foggy it feels like we are just hiking in this little bubble and lose sense of place. But I was happy we got out of it and into the sun because it was incredible.

It felt like a postcard. Like what I was looking at wasn’t real. It was hard to watch my path and continue on at the same time.

A lot of the trail skirts the mountains and leaves very minimal space between the trail and cliff which can cause major issues if you don’t pay attention to where you are going. But man!! Was the views today somethin else!

We hiked down for a majority part of the day which left my legs hurting more than usual. Planner loves the downhills but I hate them. My legs always feel way worse when I go downhill than when I go up. We reached mile 20 at a spring at 1:30 pm. Faster than any other day because the weather was so cool. We filled up and decided to go 5 more and then 2 more as we still had plenty of day light left and we were in search of a good tent spot.

The wind was fierce today for much of the day. And cold. We constantly feel like the trail is throwing curve balls at us and we don’t know what to do! So we just keep hiking!

We found a spot on the top of a mountain but it has a lot of boulders and trees providing some blockage. I am hopeful we can sleep just as well tonight, especially since we were able to get to camp early and get fully prepared for sleep!

Iz and Oz