Under the stars

All of us slept very well in the magical forest. When we took another stroll through it today we agreed that we’d found a beautiful spot to camp. I walked down the garden and joined the other hikers for a delicious fresh pancakes breakfast. As promised, I went back to the woods to snap some pictures of some of the cool painted rocks hidden in the Manzanita trees.

I am a bit worried about hiking in my new Hawaii-shirt. Even though it has got all the style-points down pat, it’s hot. And I’m not even hiking yet…

We decided to take it easy for the first half of the day and hike out in the afternoon, see if we could get 10 miles done before dinner. Tomorrow we aim to get up the earliest we’ve done so far. If we could hit the trail by 0500 that’d be a good start. Take a nap during the hottest part of the day, and hike some more in the evening hours. Interesting to find out how the body responds to transgressing to possible night-hiking.

Around four we headed out of Casa de Luna, saying goodbye to Terrie, after having our picture taken. We sat down for a final morale boost at the cafe; I had the funky monkey milkshake. Then Natalie, Pops & I headed out (Thad would follow later).
The area we hiked through showcased more of the same rolling green hills we’d seen yesterday, but because it was late afternoon, it had cooled down significantly and now the hiking was very pleasant. Because the sun was not beating down on us, we kept our energy, and were having fun conversations. We reminisced on our time in high-school and university, all of us sharing memories and fun stories of those turbulent times; it was great! With a steady pace going, the first 8 miles flew past. Then the sun started setting. We enjoyed the shades of the sky changing, and hiked on as we were slowly shrouded in the night. The first stars started to appear in the sky, we took out our headlamps and kept going. It was not for long that all of us started cheering, we were so excited to be hiking in the dark! Everything looked different, it was nice and cool, we still had great views of the colored horizon. We were just having a blast!

Around 2100 we headed into our designated campsite, pitched our tents in the pitch-black, huddled together to get a quick meal down, and now we’re listening to the rustling wind as we’re getting ready for a short nights sleep; we’re going to continue in the early hours tomorrow to beat the heat again. Aimed hiking-start-time: 0500. It’s going to be tough, but the prospect of napping in the shade during a very long lunch break should get us through. Today was great; a lovely new and exciting experience. All us felt happy and good to be out on the trail again!

Please take me by the hand
It’s so cold out tonight I’ll
put blankets on the bed
I won’t turn out the light, just
Don’t forget to
Think about me, and I
Won’t forget you
“I’ll write you once a week” she said

Why does it feel the same to fall in love or break it off and
If young love is just a game then
I must have missed the kick-off

Don’t depend on me to ever follow through on
Anything but,
I’ll go through hell for you and

I haven’t been this scared
In a long time
And I’m so unprepared
So here’s your valentine
Bouquet of clumsy words
A simple melody
This world’s an ugly place
But you’re so beautiful to me

Going away to College – Blink 182