Any day that begins with the promise of real food and a shower at the end of it is a great day and after nearly 400 miles since my last day off in Idyllwild, I'm ready for both. Another early start to beat the heat, we took off one by one in the early morning hours just before sunrise, marching east directly toward another beautiful installment of the waking sun.
Raindrops in the Desert
The 4:30am alarm on my watch came early, but I quickly pulled my gear together and set off just before 5:00. Is it possible to hate the morning but love the sunrise? Minutes down the trail, that was the question I asked Gazelle, sensing that like me she struggled to greet the day at such an hour but enjoyed the soft glow of its pastel beauty.
Big Sky
The sky feels so imposing, massive, as though it threatens to press down on you ever so gently from above. The first time I ever saw sky like this was on my first trip west of the Mississippi, on a canoe trip down the Missouri River from Great Falls, Montana. I had heard the name "Big Sky country" before, but never could discern its purpose. How, after all, could the sky appear any bigger…
Chess
Everything is some sort of small calculation. Just as the move of a single chess piece becomes a sequence, becomes a strategy, so too are the decisions made on each day of this journey. How far to the next water source? To the next resupply? At the end of the day, will there be terrain level enough and vegetation sparse enough to pitch a tent?
Weather Lottery
Weather dictates all manner of things out here--moods, miles hiked, the amount of water needed and thus pack weight. In exchange for the cold of the last few nights, moving down the trail during the day has been unseasonably comfortable. In truth, I continue to win the weather lottery.
Out of the Cloud
With a short day on tap, the order of the morning was sleeping in...until 6:30 anyway. Another cold night in the books, the morning began much as the previous evening had ended, the air thick from a low lying cloud having settled into the high mountain saddle.
Poodle Poodle Everywhere
So here I am, after all the other hikers have gone to bed, tending to the dwindling campfire on the beginning of what promises to be yet another cold night. It's blogging by firelight rather than headlamp for a change. I can't remember the last time I had a campfire on three consecutive nights on a trail--I don't recall having that many on the entire Appalachian Trail…