Day 5 mile 46 to mile 68.3

So we did our first 20 mile day and we are hurting but feel so accomplished. This was unplanned but there’s some weather coming in two days that we’d like to avoid. I know, I know, we are prepared for the weather and we are tough and should totally be able to handle it but the reality is it’s going to be way nicer to be in town. I’ve got some blisters that need a day off so we will be aiming to get to Julian Sunday afternoon and will be staying until Tuesday morning.

No oatmeal this morning! We got up around 6/6:30 and were hiking by 7:20. After yesterday’s hard hike in the heat we didn’t want a repeat. The wind was whipping us around as soon as we were on the trail which did help keep the temperature pretty reasonable all day but also, wind ALL DAY.

Water was available about 6 miles from last night’s camp and we made quick work of getting there. It was a trough with a faucet that we filtered from. Trail magic was available in the form of fresh fruit and it was amazing. We each took an orange and shared a banana. Those fueled us until we stopped for lunch around mile 9.5 under the tiniest sliver of shade. Taking about an hour to rest our feet and eat some food was really great.

After lunch was just tripping over the biggest tiny rocks there ever were. The rocks are beautiful but terrible to be walking on. They sound like glass when you kick them so that song “walking on broken glass” was stuck in my head. More wind this afternoon, yay wind!

The first campsites we were aiming for had people in them so we pressed on to find some spots were other hikers had set up. After poking around there we decided it wasn’t the best because of rocks and the hill. A snack and a little pump up dance were had so we could press on another 2.5 miles to another site.

The comfiest spot was waiting for us at the bottom of the hill! I was so happy we decided to push on. We got here at the perfect time because pretty soon after we got here 4 other hikers trickled in and got the other spots around us. It’s a little windy but hopefully it won’t be too bad. We heard a lot of coyotes howling before bed.