DAY 48: JOSHUA TREE SPRING

miles: 24

This entry WILL contain some high quality photos - it is so time consuming to add them individually, so I will only add a few. But look forward to seeing more later! I haven't even seen these on a computer yet! This is exciting!!!

Sour Cream and I with our FANTASTIC pancakes. Seriously. Also, it's 5:00am.

Pancakes by Yogi were delicious, of course. Ben, Starfox, Chik Chak, Sour Cream and I were the first ones down to breakfast. We were even allowed to have seconds! Or thirds if we wanted! While everyone else was still slumbering, we scooted out of there ASAP in order to beat the heat.

The desert game: Move from water source to water source, carry enough water to survive, shield yourself from the sun from 6:00am - 8:00pm and try your best to beat the heat. A desert day goes something like this:

-Wake up between 4:00am and 5:00am and hurry to be ready in exactly one hour.
-Dust sand and grit off of everything that was exposed during the night.
-Make sure there are no ants in your water bottles/mouth piece of your hydration bladder (note: the other morning, Angela woke up and took a drink from her hydration hose only to find a mouthful of ants. Ants need water too and will gravitate towards your water bottles and hydration bladders.)
-Hike 10 miles before 10:00am (10 before 10) or 9 before 9, otherwise you will be roasting by 10:00am.
-Take a long break between 10:00am and 4/5:00pm to hide from the sun and heat.
-hike 10 more miles in the dusk.

Ben stretching. 

Today was slightly (ohhhh so slightly) cooler than usual so we hiked until about 11:00am and stopped at our first water source - Joshua Tree Spring - a gorgeous location for a mid-day siesta. It was about .5 miles off trail, which was disheartening once you realize how far down you have to go OFF trail to get there, but was well worth it. The water was cold, the shade was plentiful and the birds were beautiful! We were visited by a Western Tanager. Gorgeous!

We napped and lounged as hikers filtered in and out of the shady oasis. Sour Cream, Rocky and I were eager to keep hiking because the three of us had a goal of making it 25 miles that day in order to set ourselves up for a 25 day the next day and we would be at Kennedy Meadows on Friday!!! The thought of an extra night at Kennedy Meadows was too much, and we promised to make it there for happy hour on Friday.

Ben and Sour Cream at Joshua Tree Spring - Ben looking disgruntled

We left at 3:00pm and were being toasted by the sun, but this did not stop us. Hiking through some unbearable heat is worth the early town arrival. Starfox and Chik Chak were not far behind! We climbed and climbed as it got cooler and cooler....

Eventually we split ways with Starfox and Chik Chak - they were planning on lower mileage days and a later Kennedy Meadows arrival date (Saturday) seeing as they enjoy taking their time more and don't mind shorter town stops.

Sour Cream and Rocky getting water.

Camped at a fantastically quiet, serene, eerily still, saddle where we would later find out other hikers had bear issues in that area. Apparently an aggressive bear would not leave some people alone the next day. Really dodged a bullet there...