So… the patching up of my sleeping pad did not work. After inflating it, for what felt like the millionth time, I decided to leave it alone and just hope for the best. The best was not great; within a half hour I was lying on rock. And so with every turn in my sleep, I woke up, thinking to myself: worst night ever… I did find myself dozing off a little every now and then, but it was a rough night for sure. When the other hikers around me started getting ready around 0600 I shared my misfortune of yesterdays attempt to patch up my pad with others. Dr. Strange then realized he had a thermarest-repair kit which he handed me before heading out. I was very grateful to give the patch-up another attempt and took my time to carefully administer the glue-like material on the tear and then seal it off with special tape. I decided to let it dry up during the day and see tonight if it would hold out tonight.
The day started out with a tough climb along the flank of an immense valley. It was already hot in the early morning and with my poor nights sleep and yesterdays fast climb still affecting my legs, I sluggishly paced on. I couldn’t help but to laugh out loud though, when I recalled my struggles of last night. I found the whole situation pretty ridiculous; who hikes 1200 miles, with a backpack full of junkfood to find his sleeping-pad torn to bits, such that he’s sleeping on a rocky floor in the middle of nowhere?! Yeah, that’s pretty silly.
At some point I thought I heard somebody hooting, or make bird-noises, but with my earphones in I could have been mistaken. I couldn’t make out anybody on the ridge below me. Later however Birdman, Photo-op and Rocket caught up with me. It had been Birdman (who else?) hooting from a distance to get my attention. Along the flanks of the valley we reached the 1200 mile marker, where somebody had made a nice little display.
At the top of the ridge the trail led into a pine-forest where we all gathered to collect water from an ice-cold spring, to satisfy our thirst. It was nice to catch a break and the general consensus was, that this had been a tough climb to start the day with. Also it was getting real, real hot again. Later Bird-man would state that this day definitely fit into his top 5 of hottest days on trail yet. I agreed. Unfortunately we’d better get used to it. North-Cal can be relentlessly hot too, not just the desert. Bleh.
After reaching the ridge, the trail would stay relatively level with the exception several 1-3 mile ups and downs. My 6-days worth of food and thus crazy heavy pack did not help my cause and I was hiking in the back of our little entourage for most of the day. Every time I saw the others chilling out in the shade I sighed in relief, happy to join them and give my back some rest, which was aching pretty badly today. Around 1500 I managed to get some shut-eye during a break and got a little power-nap in which charged my battery to some extend. Still, the last couple of hours were a drag, and only during the final hike down when I was having a nice conversation with Rocket did my body not seem to ache as much as it had all day. We had dinner together and that’s when the moment I’d been dreading all day arrived; seeing if my patched-up sleeping pad would stay inflated. It appears the second attempt was the better attempt, because after fumbling with the tape a bit more I didn’t hear any air escaping from the tear-area. Until I’ve given it a proper test during tonight’s sleep I don’t trust it yet. Keep you posted…
Mary belongs to the words of a song
I try to be strong for her
Try not to be wrong for her
She will not wait for me anymore, anymore
Why did I say all those things before I was sure
She is the one
But I have a purpose
She is the one
And I have to fight this
She is the one
The villain I can’t knock down
I see your face with every punch I take
Every bone I break
Its all for you
And my worst pains are words I cannot say
Still I will always fight on for you
Gifts and Curses – Yellowcard
