The Misty Valley and Relaxation

Got moving pretty early today, before six. Today would be a leisure day. Only 8 miles left into Warner Springs. After hiking out, I soon entered the yellow grassland plains on the basin floor. It was very misty and gorgeous. It reminded me a lot of Rohan, and I expected Éomer and his horse-lords to come barging out of the hills any minute. Unfortunately no such thing happened. We’d all agreed to meet at Eagle Rock about 5 miles in. It would be nice to have fellow hikers there to snap some photo’s. When I arrived there was just one hiker present, but the others soon followed. Thad climbed upon the hillside, looked up, and with an immense sense of awe said: “Man, that’s the most American Rock I’ve ever seen”. Made me laugh.
We all hung out a bit, snapped some pictures, and I decided that it could just as well be a Hippogriff. Alohomora and so on. It truly was a morning of phantasy-novel-appearances because not later we passed some woods I was certain to be Fangorn Forest (What madness drove ’em in there? )

Before 0900 we headed into Warner Springs. Here we encountered an incredible hiker-friendly set-up; hiker lounge area, campsite, laundry-options, backpacking gear store, and people from the local community centre who would drive any hiker that desired so, to the restaurant, shop or post-office. For hikers with tired feet this is a blessing. After checking out the area, I decided I didn’t feel like waiting on the others and rushed to the golf-course grill. Trying to get a taste of Mexico before we’re too far North, I ordered the Huevos Rancheros. It was Boom-Sweety! And even though this was my second breakfast, It was gone in the blink of an eye.

The rest of the day I spent running errands. I picked up my resupply box from the post-office and send another box with warmer clothing (thermals, gloves and some other items I don’t need in the desert) to Wrightwood. The cool thing about sending boxes with USPS is that if you don’t open a box you send yourself, you are allowed to ship it somewhere else for free. Some post-offices however do not hold packages past a certain time. So instead of sending the box too far ahead and possibly get into trouble, you just ‘bounce’ it forward a little bit. Then in a weeks time you’ll see if you need the stuff, if not, you bounce it forward again. Thus the name ‘Bounce-Box’. I also picked up my hip-belt pockets, which I’m excited to start using tomorrow (no more taking off my pack to reach for my phone, sunscreen, money or other items I’d like to have within arms reach.. (many of my clothing don’t have appropriate pockets to carry all this stuff in). Also I bought two transparent food-bags. Mainly for the reason that they are odor-resistant, which will prevent rodents from chewing through my tent to get to my food, but also because now I get to chose what I eat (before, each time I reached into my food-bag, it would be pretty much a lucky draw).

For this evening I booked myself a small cabin, so I have had the luxury of taking a shower, and have a roof over my head to sort all my stuff out. It was real nice to take a warm shower, however I fear that this feeling of cleanliness won’t be for long. Soon I will be covered in a thick layer of dirt again. Not bad for the photo’s though, it makes me appear way more tan than I truly am. I headed back over to the campsite because I needed to repair a small hole in the floor of my tent, and to get rid of excess food I now had because of the resupply box. I managed to shed a jar of peanut-butter, a packet of ramen, and a can of sardines in olive oil. The olive-oil bit made Bane, its new owner, ecstatic. He happy, and I’m happy. After having a chats with wat I believe is a great group of people I headed back to my cabin.