May 5-6: I'm not sure if it was the 24 mile day, the wind, or the restless sleep at Ziggy and the Bear's, but the next two days, I felt so tired! My feet had been feeling HOT the night after the 24 mile walk, to the point where I woke in the middle of the night went to the shower house, and just slathered my feet with lotion. Helped a little, but I still kept waking up feeling like my feet were roasting.
The walk out of Ziggy's was hot, dry, and windy. I left in between Wallaby and Lauren and kept leapfrogging with Wallaby all day, but never did see Lauren, which is unusual. I employed the short, frequent breaks strategy, with an eye on any shady spot I could find. The day took me through wind farms
Across exposed ridges
Along grassy expanses
And then down onto the sandy, hot desert floor. In the middle, was the fast flowing Whitewater River, where there were boulders nearby providing shade to eat lunch, soak your hot feet, and get more water before continuing on. Lost in my own little world, I took a wrong turn down a side trail and walked a good mile before realizing I was going in the wrong direction and backtracking to the split. (I want full credit for those two miles. I tell you!)
Back on the correct trail, I passed such bizarre sights as- a cow carcass
And people on horseback, Billy Crystal style in City Slickers
Finally, I saw Walaby settling in to camp at the early hour of 4:30. "I feel like I should do more miles, but I'm just too tired" he said. I concurred and turned in for an early night.
Despite the early night, fatigue reigned the next day, as well. We started out the day quite differently, in that the trail ran alongside and crossed Mission Creek multiple times. So water was plentiful. And my sneakers were wet. We climbed up to higher elevations and into pine trees.
With lots of stunning views
And a forest fire to the south. All day we watched planes fly over and dump water on it.( the fire was contained by day's end)
Near the end of the day we passed a bunch of cages behind a fence next to the trail. On one of the cages was a HUGE grizzly bear. Apparently, this bear is used in movies and TV shows and this is where his trainer keeps him. It was kind of sad, actually, seeing this bear caged up like that without any companions.
Once again, tired and sleepy, we camped early in the first flat spot we could find after the cages. Right before bed, I checked the weather app on my phone and it said- SNOW! But that couldn't be true. I was clearly way more tired than I thought.
Peace, love, and trail magic!
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