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Click "Play" below to listen to the Day 3 audio journal.
May 27, 2015
Day: 3 Daily Miles: 47.5 Total Miles: 143.75 Hours Hiking: 16.25
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| Sunrise 3 miles before Barrel Springs. |
May 27th, I made it 47.5 miles to point 0539291E 3707431N UTM. Lets see, today I actually spend the night at the same place that I did in 2012, which means I'm on the same pace, except for I arrived probably 3 hours earlier, so technically ahead of schedule because I will be getting more sleep and yadda yadda yadda. I started off the day in what Halfmile calls the "Billygoat Cave" about 3-4 miles away from Barrel Springs. I woke up and there was fog all over the valley. I was just above it, but as soon as I hiked a little ways, I was in the fog for about 6-7 miles. I got my water at Barrel Springs and headed on out across the rolling hills and nice grasslands. I made it to Warner Springs for resupply and just outside of town, or maybe like 0.25 miles from the road, I passed this oak tree...an unassuming oak tree... there were some bees buzzing around a 'Y' in the tree about 8 feet up and the all of a sudden I got pelted by bees....I dropped my trekking poles, dropped my hat, well actually flung my hat off because they were on my head and went down the trail about 30 feet...I got stung once in the neck and no idea what provoked that. I do recall, as some point, whether it was last year [2014] or 2012, seeing a very similar note in the water report..."There are bees around Warner Springs" or whatever. But that was....aaaa....kind of interesting....Thankfully it didn't really hurt or swell or anything, it was just the back of my neck, it is still a little hard lump, but nothing too bad. I got my resupply done in about 30 minutes, which was awesome and then took off, because I knew it was going to be hot on the climb up over the hills there. I made it out...was making some good miles.
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| The open plains near Warner Springs. |
The climbs were hot, but not nearly as bad as I remembered them. There was a good breeze which was amazing. I met a guy named Dan, by Lost Valley Spring, he was just hanging out in the shade just reading a book and he called me...umm what was the word here..ohh... I can't recall right now... it was funny, it was to describe...ahhh, "unconventional in my hiking attire" because I have my compression socks on and I assume because I have a fedora on too. But that was really funny to me at least. I just kept chugging away at the miles and at about mile 24, 25. I just hit the wall basically. The last couple days I've kinda felt a little off, like sweet things don't taste good, make me nauseous and just the whole slough of things that point to me being sick, and I kind of thought that I actually have a fever. I took a rest for a little while...everything on me when I'm hiking is usually cool [my body itself] because its sweating, but when I tough my forehead, its wet, but it's burning hot. I mean it's hard to tell but, when I check my fingers to my lips to see what’s hotter, then I tough my head and my head just feels hot. So, I could have a fever, which is no fun when hiking in the sun and exercising because you just can't cool yourself off. I mean I feel hot all the time. But, I kept goin'. You know once you hit that wall, it's really, just...you have put one foot in front of the other and will yourself to continue. I met two other guys at the Chihuahua Valley Road. They had just come from Mikes {trail angel} and they were totally overburdened (laughs) with stuff, making 15 miles a day, saying their knees hurt.
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| The open plains near Warner Springs. |
So I, talked with them for a little bit and gave one of them my knee brace because I hadn't felt any pain, at least in the way was assuming I may {had runners knee pain 3 weeks before starting}, so I told them I didn't need this, it's just weighing me down a little bit. So I gave that away and then took off across Combs Peak and then down....I saw one rattlesnake on the trail, it didn't even know I was there, I guess the wind was going the wrong direction, as I had to kick some rocks at it and get it off the trail. Then, out in the flats near Anza, it just kinda goes up and down, rolling hills, this and that...and I had saved some caffeine, so...it was getting later, so I was like 'I should really just push it and get to where I got to before [2012]' So, I did. I spent about 2.5 hours trying to go about 4mph at the end of a long day after being sick...it was rough, but for the most part a lot of it was relatively level or flat, so that was good at least.
And then, there was Nance canyon.
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| The boulder strewn hill after Warner Springs. |
Holy shit, climbing out of that thing is...you know I remember it not being fun and doing it in the evening, similar time to when I did it then. But man, that is a STEEP canyon and it goes forever it feels like. It's 1.5-2 miles of just climbing. The only saving grace is that at the top there is the Anza cache, so you can get some water, because there's not much else out there. Then I went about a mile passed the Anza Cache and got to where I had gotten to in 2012...I didn't sleep so well...it's a flat area but its all this compacted granite sands on top of granite boulders, so it's just hard. I really should have picked somewhere else. But, that was the day...and yeah, I hope I get better.
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| A grassy area a few miles after Crabtree Meadows, Sierra Nevada Mountains. |
