Last night I looked at the elevation profile for the next 40 miles. There was less than 4000 feet of climbing. Could today be my first 40? It could.
I got up early and was on the trail at 5 am. I hiked by headlamp, but soon the sun rose. The valleys were filled with smoke from nearby fires, giving everything a kind of eerie feeling. It never really cooled down last night and this morning it was still pretty warm. Most of the climbing for the day was early on so this didn’t bode well.
Luckily a lake lined up with my lunch break. I pass great swimming holes all the time. It’s usually at about 7 in the morning and cold out. But today was different. I pretty much had the lake to myself, except for some day hikers on the other side of it. I jumped in, made lunch, and got some water. I had miles to hike.
Not long after the lake I came to a trailhead. A former hiker and now trail angel was there with drinks and some food. It was an unplanned break, and I was trying to make miles, but I’ll never turn down a pop on trail. I had a Dr Pepper and a beer before heading out. He said he was headed to Scott Mountain Campground afterwards, so if I could do 20 more, I’d see him again.
The hiking today was really nice. I followed ridges most of the day, crossing over small mountain passes and looking down different valleys. There was a lot of water along the way too. Big days are easier when you don’t have to take breaks at weird times for water.
It was pretty hot today, but not as bad as yesterday. It even rained for about 20 minutes. It’s the hardest rain I’ve had the whole trail. Not hard enough to put on rain gear, but it was so early in the day I probably wouldn’t have even in a downpour.
I stopped for a dinner break at 7 pm so I could go straight to bed when I got to camp. I had 6 miles to go and would have to do a bit of night hiking to hit 40.
I saw my first scorpion today while hiking at night. I didn’t know those were up this far north in California. I’m gonna double check my shoes from now on.
Eventually I made it to the campground where I saw Trapper, the trail angel from earlier. He had some Mountain Dew and some Coors Light. I figured the beer would help me sleep better. A few other hikers were still up and it turns out I knew them. I met them before I took my week off. I’m catching up to a lot of people now. I guess that happens when you hike FORTY miles in a day. 😀