Day 22 – 13 Apr 19. The Scent of Pine

Today 14.3 km (8.9 mi), Total Distance 442.6 km (275 mi). 3 hours 15 minutes (120-1735)

I half woke up around 0600 but quickly fell back to sleep until 0800. I stayed in bed finishing my last video. Then I fixed my sleeping bag inner which had split down most of one of the seams. I hand sewed this which took a while and then started packing. After a long hot shower I was ready to face the world.

I dropped off my spares from shopping to the guys from yesterday and made my way to Denny’s. On the way I bumped into Just Awesome and The Duke. They were on their way back to Grizzly’s which had a 45 minute wait time. They asked me to join them, Duchess and a new guy, but the restaurant were not happy with the extra person so I said my goodbyes and headed back to Denny’s.

I ordered a double cheese burger, lemonade and coffee. I love the lemonade here. In New Zealand if you order lemonade it is something like Sprite or 7Up. Here it is actually lemon juice. What I do not like is the coffee which is mainly percolated. You can get a cappuccino but you have to look and they are not great. I miss the Flat White.

My stomach has shrunk so I had to take my time to be able to finish everything but I persevered and finished the whole lot.

I headed back to the motel to finish adding photos the last of my blogs and posting them.

Outside the motel I stuck my thumb out and a couple of minutes later a car does a U turn and picks me up. Tony is a local and likes talking to PCT hikers. He dropped me off at the far end of town on Highway 18.

There it was also a very quick thumb out before Scott picked me up in an old car with the stereo blasting. Once the song was finished we chatted the short 3 miles to the trail head.

I crossed the road to touch the rock I left from and back over the road and onto the trail. I was feeling really energised, the break having been effective. I was in cruise mode on the beautiful trails.

Today was mainly in scattered forest with a mixture of trees and some Joshua trees, one of which was really tall. Sometimes the smell of pine would be really strong which was nice. The trail was in excellent condition with very few rocky bits and only a few fallen trees over the track.

I started along the side of a hill before dropping into a valley that had suffered a major fire, then a big climb up a hill. At the top was a sign advising the Fire detour was over, which I assume was last year’s issue.

Now it was back along the side of a hill, across a flat plateau and then a drop down to Caribou Stream and campsite.

It is a big campsite with room for heaps of tents but I am the only one here. I have not seen anyone since starting.

I had felt like I was cruising so I was surprised to see that I had covered nearly 9 miles in just over 3 hours. Must have been the energy from the burger. This is in line with my progression though. Now that I am into the fourth week l am still trying to keep to a maximum of 20 miles a day but i can increase the speed from my easy pace.

I was not hungry so I just had the pastries I brought yesterday and some snacks.

Views: 638