Day 8 – 30 Mar 19. Snake, Squirrel and the Superblooom

Today 22.7 km (14.1 mi), Total Distance 146.8 km (91.2 mi). 6 hours 40 minutes (0950-1630)

I woke up really early so I read for a while and then started getting ready around 0630. In between getting ready I was talking with people via messenger and email and having some hot drinks and making the most of my last hot shower for a while.

At 0800 I was ready and went to the road to hitch a ride back too Julian. The very first car that came picked me up. It was a lady about to go camping nearby.

In Julian I went to the Miners Diner and ordered breakfast. I ordered fried eggs on sough dough bread with hash browns. The meal was huge and the hash browns were different to what I know. In New Zealand Hash Browns are grated potato moulded into oblong shaped patties and then either grilled or fried. What was served was shredded potato that had been deep fried so it was very similar to fries. The breakfast was good but so big I could not finish it.

Next was the Market to buy a 1.5l Smartwater bottle. I had melted my first on by putting hot tap water in it to clean it.

Now I walked to the end of town by the gas station and put my thumb out. The 3rd car picked me up. It was a middle aged man, originally from Mexico. We had a good conversation about food for the 12 mile journey. The hitch out was definitely much easier than the hitch in.

I headed back to the underpass where there was a couple on one side and a single guy on the other who had camped there the previous night. I spoke to the couple, went to the cache and signed the register then talked to the guy. He seemed to be pretty stoned and offered me some marijuana which I politely refused.

I re-joined the trail, walked up the road for a few meters, crossed the road and turned onto the trail. Now I was on my way for what turned out to be the most amazing day.

The vegetation was immediately different from the other side of the road. There were cacti everywhere and new types I had never seen. I spent ages taking photos before continuing.

There was a big hill to climb, around 200 vertical meters, and this ended up taking me ages because I was taking so many photos, as well as because how switchbacked it was.

Because of the amount of rain they have had in this area it is now a “Superblooom” and that means a profusion of flowers. There were so many flowers everywhere, in lots of different colours. Even the cacti were blooming, less the prickly pear.

Every corner I turned the beauty just kept increasing. I was completely blown away as the transition to this colourful wonderland was so sudden.
I caught up to one lady and she seemed in shock at just how amazing it was and this was the theme of the day when meeting people.

I finally set down to my task of walking and managed to increase the time between photos to nearly 5 minutes.

I had seen a small shape cross the track and I thought I saw white on it. Not long after I saw what looked like a squirrel in the rocks.

Once the track had climbed nearly to the top it then followed the side of the hill for the next 8 miles.

My body was feeling ok. I had hurt my knee on my rest day and was worried about it but there was only one short time where it caused any issues. It is like my knee cap is lose and doesn’t want to stay in alignment. Stretching seemed to solve this. After a few hours the arch in the right foot started to make itself felt but once again regular stretching kept this at bay. My little blisters are 100% healed and no new ones appeared.

There were two couples that I leap frogged all day. Both were section hiking with one couple just for a few days and the second couple planning to go to Idyllwild. I was 20 meters behind one couple and as I came around a corner I saw them looking just off the track. As I approached they said there had been a Rattlesnake on the trail and it had moved down the hill. I could see it moving into a hole in the rock – so exciting, my first Rattlesnake. Shortly after a small squirrel ran up the trail ahead of us for over 50 meters before turning off.

Snake

The next few hours were spent on the side of the hill with an ever-changing landscape of flowers and cacti. Every now and again a new type would appear or there would be a particularly heavy concentration of flowers. When this happened the smell was lovely.

There were heaps of people on the trail and as I could see the trail ahead as it wound in and out of the dry stream beds I could see them stretching into the distance. Some caught and passed me and I caught and passed others. Most of the time there was a quick, or in some cases not so quick, chat. The conversation was mainly about how beautiful it had been. There were only 3 people that passed with only a hi.

On the trail I caught up with Beth and Garry who I camped with on Day 5. They were sitting in the shade of a tree resting. Beth showed me her massive and painful looking blisters and I immediately offered some Compeed Blister pads. I gained a piece of beef jerky in return. I left them to popping blisters and continued, glad I wasn’t having blister problems like many were.

Beth’s Feet

Beth’s Feet

I also met up with two of the guys I had shared a car with too Julian. Satyr and Dominic. They passed me but stopped for a chat before continuing and we played leap frog for much of the day. They were quicker than me but took longer breaks.

I also saw Jay, the Canadian Girl from day 5, and she now has the trail name Blue, as she is wearing blue. There are some cool trail names and I can’t wait to find out what mine will be. At least Blue is now taken as I also wear a lot of blue.

Finally the trail left the left side of the hill, crossed a saddle, and was now on the other side of the hill for less than ½ a mile as it dropped down to a flat valley floor. Here I saw a Hare and I was told later this was a Jack Rabbit.

From the valley floor the track climbed again, back on the left side of the hill. I passed three people from Day 5 including the lady with the Aarn Pack.

This section was the longest without water. It was 22 km (14 miles) to the water source and as a result I was carrying 3.5 litres. I was using this as an opportunity to gauge how much water I actually needed for different distances. At the 11km ( 7 mile) mark I had used 1 litre of water. By the 22 km (14 mile) mark I had used a total of 2.7 litres. The last 40 minutes was really hot and my consumption significantly increased.

I finally reached the Third Gate Campsite at 1630 and then walked the ½ mile downhill to the water cache.

This is a massive pile of bottles water that an amazing group of Trail Angels maintain to help us. Without this cache it would be a 24 Mile stretch with no water. I only grabbed 1.5 litres as it was 10 miles to the next water and with what I had remaining this would be enough for dinner, breakfast and tomorrows walk.

I walked back up the hill to the campsite and found a nice spot. The campsite is huge with little private tent sites scattered between the vegetation as well as a few larger clearings. I set up my tent and as I was taking photos I stepped back into a cactus. Looking down I had heaps of tiny spikes sticking out of my shorts. I carefully picked them out, only getting one in my thumb. Lesson learnt, be careful moving in the desert.

After setting up my tent I wandered to where a few people were congregating and talked until tea time.

Dinner was Fully Loaded Instant Mashed potatoes and Hot Buffalo Style flavoured Tuna.
The rest of the evening was spent sorting though the huge amount of video and photos I took today.

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