Yesterday at Wallmart I bought a ton of fruit, so for breakfast I was feasting on fresh mango and prunes, and from yesterdays feast, some left-over watermelon. Attempting to replenish those vitamins a little bit. To top things off, Brian cooked us some scrambled eggs with cheese and bacon. Safe to say it was a great and leisurely start to the day! Around 1000 Brian drove us to the post-office where Rawhide and I picked up our packages (more on what’s in mine later). Brian then shuttled to the trail-head and it was time to say goodbyes. We couldn’t thank Brian enough for his enormous generosity and all he and his family had done for us in the past 2 days. We snapped a few photo’s and waved him goodbye as he drove off. Rawhide and I celebrated the fact that our side-trip to Ridgecrest could not have turned out any better, what an amazing 24 hours!
It was some time between 1100 and 1200 when we hit the trail again. Rawhide quickly cruised off and I wouldn’t see him the rest of the day. He can be real fast when he wants to. The trail led up the mountainside again, and after checking the elevation profile I was fairly certain that I’d be scaling one of the highest peaks in the area (yup, the PCT never disappoints). There was a nice breeze going and it was not as sizzling hot as it had been the past few days. I hiked the majority of the morning together with Mountain Ninja, a girl from South-Korea. Somewhere along the ascent I however lost her again when I hiked ahead.
Upon reaching the summit I was rocking some Eminem tunes on my mp3-player, reminiscing on the glory days of the high-school rap-era. Good times. After lingering a bit and taking some photo’s it was to to be heading to the water source, a creek at the bottom of the valley, some 5 miles downhill. I finished filling my water bottles around 1900 and then decided to push on a little further to make myself feel like I’d done a half decent effort for the day. After a pretty mean final stretch up, I found a beautiful campsite right at the top of a small peak, providing views in 2 directions. I’m happy that in spite of starting out today at 1100, I still managed to get 15 miles in. Now there’s only 35 miles left before heading into Kennedy Meadows; the official end of the desert-stretch. Oh Yeah!
Maybe tonight we’ll get back together
Sound the alarms and break all the levers
These streets are ours, our anthem rings
You’d know the truth if these walls could sing
Immature youth, sling down those signs
Gather the masses, friends of mine
I’ve got your back if you’ve got my hand
This isn’t over, it just began
If this isn’t love (if this isn’t love)
This is the closest I’ve ever been
Do you think we have a chance?
Tonight as streetlights, sing on Audrey’s song
Audrey, Start the Revolution! – Anberlin
