Day 8 May 14, 2017

• Daily miles. 21 plus 2 off trail miles
• Total miles 153
• Hiked from 5:00 am to 1:00 pm and 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm

 

First and foremost, Happy Mothers Day to my amazing wife Stevie.

I set my alarm for 4:45 am but was awake before it went off.  When you are in a small tent, first light comes pouring in whether you want it or not.  But it made for an early start.  I was very low on water so after two miles, I sidetracked a bit to Tule Spring.  Now, out here, all water is good water.  But this was not really delicious at all.  Even after filtering it, it still had a wicked bad taste to it.  Then it was off up the trail as it undulated along, with a general bias to upwards.

I know from my old running days that it is inevitable that you are going to have some sluggish days mixed in with the rest.  This was one of those days.  Even though my miles were fine, it felt like I had to work hard for them.  

Early morning catus shot

After about ten miles I came to a water cache.  The deal with these caches is that they are a great secondary source, but you should not rely on them.  Well there was water there.  So I dumped out a litre of yummy Tule Springs water for the more mundane bottled water there.  Again, thanks to these amazingly generous people who donate their time and effort to help us hikers.

Water cache

The rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent wandering from the edge of one canyon to the next.  I tell you, if there was no trail there, there is no way I would find my way around.  The day was cool and breezy again so at least that was good.

One of many canyons

When I finally rounded the corner to where Hwy 74 comes into view, there was a tent set up at the trail.  That can only mean one thing.  Trail magic!  And there was.  A family had set up with hotdogs and salads for us stinky hikers.  Amazing.  Sat around and had a couple of dogs, and then the call of the restaurant (with beer) about a mile down the highway was too strong.  Wandered down there with a couple of other guys and demolished a salad and a Jose Burger.

It is difficult to see them in this picture, but trail magic was just ahead

Jose Burger

Stinky hikers

About 5:00 it was nice and cool so I decided to head out and bang off a few more evening miles.  Great decision because the area I am in now is stunning.  Kind of a mini Yosemite feel to it.          

Evening hike.

This section of the trail leads to an old fire closure that is still in effect.  So tomorrow I will hike up to where the trail is closed and then take a detour route into Idyllwild.  Lots of people are skipping the section and a hitching into town but I figure I have come all this way to hike, not hitch.

Home for the night