Revival

An unbelievable nights sleep last night. As soon as I closed my eyes I was gone. I was the last one to get up after a good 9.5 hours sleep. Guess I really needed that. This morning the trail-gods were kind to me again. The day started out with a lovely shaded section, where the trail weaved through a pine-tree rich area, dotted with massive boulders. The contrast between the bright green and pink-yellow stones gave the ladscape a fairytale kinda appearance, so idyllic and wonderful. Around 0830 we stopped to hang out our damp sleeping bags and tents to dry. It was heating up quickly in the valley. I sat down on a boulder immersed in the view, listening to the sound of the wind and the birds. In that moment, yesterdays grind and hardship seemed so far away… Maybe sometimes it just needs to get real bad, before it gets good again. I still felt some strain in my hamstring, but it was considerably less than with what I went to sleep with.

As we climbed steadily out of the valley, we started getting a taste of the burned forest area, as we passed through a bunch of gloomy looking tree-skeletons. Beautiful views of the grey-brown desert floor with the grim looking mountains in the East made me stop often to take photo’s.

Catching my breath at lunch I had a nice sit-down, when Thad came cruising past. He’s been flying the past couple of days, moving real fast. The five of our little entourage (Mark, Jimmy, Thad, Natalie and I) were dispersed along the trail, but never real far away from each other.

After another tough climb (I believe we reached the highest point on the PCT so-far, above 7000 feet) the trail led us through another beautiful dense pine-forest. It smelled lovely, like one of those fragrant soap/shampoo-shops. It was a shame there were still plenty of miles to crush, otherwise I would have loved to camp there.

At another view point, we caught a glimpse of the lake that lies within reach of the hike for tomorrow. Let’s see if I can manage to swing by to take a little dip, that would be great. Around 15:45 we had the last climb of the day ahead of us. All of us were dreading it because we’d been climbing for the larger part of the day. However, after that it would be pretty much downhill until camp. Pretty much at the summit we encountered the trail-closure as result of the forest-fires. Approximately 10 miles of the PCT are inaccessible, and we were forced down a side-trail to join the PCT at a later stage. Fortunately the village Idyllwild is close. On the way down into the valley on the West flank of the mountain, I had my second snake encounter. This green buddy was quickly making his way off the trail as I approached. It didn’t stop me from shrieking like a little girl.

As intended, I didn’t mean to walk too many miles today, to give the legs a rest. Even though it had been a tough enough day, the others all wanted to push through to a nearby campsite. Because I was walking behind everybody else, I don’t think anybody noticed me get off the trail when I found the perfect spot for me to pitch my tent. I am surrounded with over 180 degrees panorama views, am completely alone, and found some nice boulders from which I get to watch my first complete sunset of the trip. It is also going to be the first night I camp all by myself. Big night! Eating my dinner as the sun slowly dropped behind the mountains surrounded by a breathtaking scenery was magical. I’m glad I decided not to push through again!