Day 13 mile 146.7 to Paradise Valley Cafe to Cedar Springs Junction

We woke up with the sun just coming over the surrounding hills. It was forecasted to be much cooler today and we were also only five miles from a hot meal at Paradise Valley Cafe so we were fairly quick to get out of camp. Mist and clouds were blowing around us the entire way down to breakfast. I must have still been feeling a little dehydrated because I wasn’t moving particularly fast. Still, before we knew it we made it to the junction and started the short hike to the cafe.

We sat on the patio as to not offend anyone with the smell along with a few other groups of hikers. As hot as it had been the past couple days this morning was chilly especially in the shade and I was downing coffee to keep warm. There was a spigot here in front of the restaurant to fill water bottles so we were able to easily refill. Jake suggested I dump our ice water glasses into my reservoir so I could have ice cold water at the ready on this next stretch, it was a fantastic idea.

Around 11 we headed out to try and take advantage of the cooler temperatures. Back at the trail junction we put sunscreen on and got to talk to a few groups of hikers headed in to get food. It started heating up as we climbed out of the valley. We were planning to take a break when we got to our next water source and it couldn’t have happened any sooner.

1/4 mile down to our water source was tough. Knees and quads were screaming by the time we arrived at the trough. We found a nice spot to post up and ate lunch. Realizing it was getting late in the day and we still had miles to hike we got filtered water and started the steep hike back to trail. There was more climbing to where we had planned to camp, we ended up quickly passing the group we leap frog with a lot. The planned campsites were full by the time we got there.

The clouds were rolling in around us and the wind was chilly so we were hiking as fast as we could manage this late in the day. Finally we found a flat spot at the Cedar Springs Junction. It might not have actually been a camp site but it did just fine. Once we got settled it was dark and the clouds had enveloped us, I had a hard time getting warm because it was so damp. We got in bed as soon as we could to get ready for the many miles we’d have in the morning.