DAY 105: WHEN YOU SLEEP ON A BRIDGE

 

miles: 27.5

WOW. When you sleep on a bridge, it is cold. 

I was interested in sleeping on the bridge, seeing as it was quite uniform and flat, which meant I would be happy (I hate sleeping on a slant or with bumps) yet I slept terribly. I think this was because I was subconsciously alarmed by the height and narrow-ness of it. In the middle of the night I woke up and was suddenly very aware of where my body was in relation to the ground... and I had a few bouts of vertigo and terror, but ultimately fell back asleep. 

Ben, Dr. Slosh and Manchurian all slept near the edge of the bridge (this bridge was one of those with the raised middle section, so on either side of this raised 'part' there were body-sized trenches, if you will, perfect for nestling into) and they tucked themselves in, very trusting of the 3-inch high piece of wood keeping them from falling off and into the water. 

I slept on the raised middle part, despite the rusty nail factor.

My bed on the left, Ben digging through his food bag, Manchurian in the distance and Dr. Slosh's feet in the foreground.

Morning routine.

Woke up to a haze of smoke. We hear the smoke has come all the way from Oregon?

The novelty of sleeping on a bridge wore off at some point in the early part of the night and I mostly just felt anxious about it, resulting in little sleep for me. When I sleep poorly, I wake up in a bad mood. When I wake up in a bad mood, I tend to get hiking earlier than everyone else, so this is how it went this morning.

Once 10 miles were under my belt, the negative mood wore off and I was excited for the rest of the day. The McCloud River has always been somewhere I wanted to see.

Lunch breaks are too short. This one was shade-less.

One would think that by now we would have a daily routine established, at least in terms of how we pace ourselves and break up our day, but this is not true.



In the desert, it was easy:

10 miles before 10:00am
(find a shady spot and rest all afternoon)
10-13 miles after 3:00pm/4:00pm

This was due to the extreme heat and inhospitable conditions down south. There were no other options, really.



In the Sierras, it was also easy:

10 miles before noon
(long lunch break + many short breaks during the day)
10-12 miles after noon

Days were longer during this section... getting dark at 10pm!

We based our days on the mountain passes, doing "a pass a day". This made it easy to determine when and where to break, lunch, and camp because it was already predetermined by the terrain. You want to get up early and get up and over a pass and camp low (by water).



In Northern California, we are all over the board because:

a) The terrain is "easier" so we need to be doing more than 20/23 miles a day
b) The weather is "milder" so we do not need a long break during the day
c) The nights are warm so we are able to get up super early and get moving, but we are also so far into the trip that we are getting lazy and wish to sleep in, making early mornings difficult
d) The higher mileage days wreck our bodies and feet (we are still getting used to walking more miles than usual) so we are more exhausted than usual, thus stop more for little breaks.
The list goes on and on and on....

Recently we have been waking up a tad bit later than usual, around 6:00am (instead of our typical 5:00am wake up) and breaking up our day into thirds. We do 7 miles, 7 miles, 7 miles, 7 miles (or the remainder miles).

This is working out fabulously for the time being!

Distant fire.

Ben making Ramen. 

Lunch #2. Dr. Slosh elevating his sore feet. 

Follow the Cascadia's.

Always following the foot prints. The Brooks Cascadia running shoe is the most popular on the trail by far, however, there are so many other shoes worn by hikers out there! This makes it interesting because we've gotten to know peoples particular print. I always know who I am following.

Pretty soon I will be able to scout out other hikers by smell.

Today we split the day up into thirds, having 2 long-ish lunch breaks and then a quick rest break near the end of the day. The last 3 miles to camp just about killed me. I (along with Dr. Slosh) am having a resurgence of nasty foot pain. It feels as though my feet are on fire with electrical activity! I think it is nerve related and hope it relieves itself soon, because it is very uncomfortable...

The rocks around here are gorgeous.