The first week has been amazing! Our bodies are holding up fairly well. I will say I don't recall being this sore during the first few days of my Appalachian Trail hike. But we are starting to get our "trail legs" and the miles are getting somewhat easier.
The hardest part has been the afternoon heat. We've been waking up at 5AM to hike until around noon and then we have an afternoon ciesta until the temperatures drop. On top of the heat, we've been walking through areas that have had serious fires and all of the vegetation has been burned back taking away any shade. And to go along with the heat you are always dirty--sand/fine dirt is constantly kicked up and there are no streams to clean up in.
We just completed what I think has been the hardest streach, so far, through the San Felipe Hills. There were no natural sources of water and the entire area had a fire last summer. Fortuantely, the area has Trail Angels that stock water caches for the hikers. At one cache there were over 100 gallons of bottle water for PCT hikers.
The hardest part has been the afternoon heat. We've been waking up at 5AM to hike until around noon and then we have an afternoon ciesta until the temperatures drop. On top of the heat, we've been walking through areas that have had serious fires and all of the vegetation has been burned back taking away any shade. And to go along with the heat you are always dirty--sand/fine dirt is constantly kicked up and there are no streams to clean up in.
We just completed what I think has been the hardest streach, so far, through the San Felipe Hills. There were no natural sources of water and the entire area had a fire last summer. Fortuantely, the area has Trail Angels that stock water caches for the hikers. At one cache there were over 100 gallons of bottle water for PCT hikers.
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| Southern Terminus (Campo, CA) |
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| Really large Yuca plant |
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| Yuca Flowers |
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| Early morning sunrise |
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| First rattlesnake (Norhtern Mohave Rattlersnake) |
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| 10 miles outside of Mount Laguna |
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| Nice view of desert floor--we were so happy to be up in the mountains. |
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| There are still flowers in the desert |
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| Trying to find some shade... |
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| Typical trail without any shade and with lots of sun! |
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| Early morning hiking to Scissors Crossing to hitch into Julian for free pie! |
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| First Barrell Cacti |
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| First Horny Toad - so exciting! |
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| I took a hour and half ciesta on a pile of rocks - no joke! |
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| Woo Hoo!! We made it through first 100 miles! |
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| My feet/legs were completely clean when I started hiking and I was wearing pants!!! |
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| Dairy cows heading to the barn early in the morning! |
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| Our hair is caked with sweat, sunscreen, and desert grim. Doesn't it look great? |
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| Eagle Rock, CA |
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| Baby Horny Toad |
Nice! I remember hiding from the sun under a ridiculous little eroded bluff in the desert in New Zealand for lunch and dragging ourselves out after... but there was a delicious stream at the end ;-) Yay for 100!
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you two are doing well. Keep up the blog when you can. Have fun y'all!
ReplyDeleteHoorah!!! Nice work kids! Glad you are finding your desert tempo. Just remember that the Sierras are waiting for you with all their clean granite and water :)
ReplyDeleteHug, TR