It just happens to be brutal out here. The scorching sun with no shade, burning your skin although you don't know it because the suns blistering rays are masked by the intense wind.
The day began in the dark 4:30am wind of "the Shrine" camp. It was especially hard to leave the warmth of my sleeping bag. Angela and I had been drying our freshly laundered clothes on the fence nearby and it was just starting to get windy. Despite the black widows, we decided to cook and eat breakfast in the bathroom/shower house because it was sheltered and warm... Ben eating his honey bunches if oats out of his ziplock bag with dehydrated milk. Angela & I cooking our oats and coffee. Just taking our sweet time....
Apparently it takes us an ungodly amount of time to pack up in the morning. Didn't leave camp until 6:30! What were we doing? Who are these machines that wake up and get hiking at 5:00am, mere moments after waking?? Will we ever get faster?
The morning routine:
- wake up and realize I am desperately thirsty and cold.
- poke head out of tent to assess Angela's state if consciousness.
- remain in sleeping bag for the costume change, wince as the frozen, dirty clothes touch my body and taint my "clean" sleeping bag.
- stand up and immediately regret that I only brought running shorts.
- fumble with the stove and boil water for coffee. Look forward to when I mailed myself Starbucks via. For now, deal with the poor decision of trader joes instant.
- cook oatmeal.
- choke it down
- spend the rest of my time locating misplaced items, I never seem to know where I put anything, there are so many pockets and zippers!!! Need to develop a system.
- stuff sleeping bag into minuscule stuff sack (thin as paper) and wonder if this is the morning I will punch a hole through it. Also - it's a work out to wrestle this thing into its sack.
- very carefully pack my pack, everything smashed in its place.
- take down tent.
- realize the tent needs to go in the pack first, unpack pack and repack it with tent.
- un-crumble maps for the day and put them somewhere I will not remember later.
- chase something that has blown away.
- duct tape my blisters.
- spend 10 minutes putting my toes in the sandy toe socks and shoes and realize I forgot to put my gaiters on first.
- take shoes off, put gaiters on, shoes back on.
- painfully hoist pack on my back and buckle up!
It's a process. It's an art. Surely, we will get faster at this and develop our systems. For now, we fumble.
Left the Shriners at dawn (nested in the pine forest of the Laguna Mountain Recreation Area) and were transported to the desert by noon. Hiking was easy, spirits were high, my body felt FANTASTIC! All of the slow days had really paid off!
Stopped for a snack and water break at "pioneer mail" picnic area. Grabbed water from the horse trough, met some other hikers, and were on our way.
The Anza-Borrego Desert is simply STUNNING. We walked amongst the boulder fields, high up on the meandering ridges... My jaw dropping on multiple occasions, although I was alone.
A bird of prey (which I have, shamefully, yet to identify) flew alongside of me, while I traversed a cliff, giving me goosebumps.
We all hiked the day at different paces, and are often not far from one another, but independently hiking. The warm wind blew strong, making it difficult to feel the debilitating sunburn it was actively applying to my skin.
Lunched on an exposed ridge, the only appropriate spot we could find to semi-shield ourselves from the whipping wind. I watched Ben attempt to put on his tyvek skirt for sun protection, in the wind - which I wish I had gotten a video of.
There was a blister popping procedure that took place - Angela's pinky toe looked like an elephant seal. You know, the ones with those noses?
I hiked on ahead, literally dancing my way through the desert, only to realize I had gotten WAY ahead somehow, and knew something was wrong. I started to worry, but knew that they would catch up at some point when I stopped.
Came around a bend and noticed, off in the distance, a gathering of people down at a junction.... "WHO ARE THEY?" I ran (literally) down the mountain towards them, ridiculously excited to see other humans, whom I could pow-wow with. It was my first experience with "trail magic"!!!! It was a kind man who had hauled up (from a nearby trailhead) cold Gatorade, chips, and water!!!!! For all if the hikers coming through. He said he had been there 2 hours and that 13 hikers had come through already. They must be right in front of us.
I sat down to enjoy my cold beverage, only to realize that the backs of my legs are completely blistered by the sun. I sat, shielding my legs from the few folks loitering around the Gatorade watering hole... Semi-embarrassed at my lack of putting sunscreen in today.
My ears are burnt crisps, my legs bubbly with sunburn, and hands itchy with heat rash. Oops.
I sat, waiting for Ben and Angela for about an hour, wearing all the clothes I own, hiding from the sun in the shadeless desert junction. Everyone had left, leaving me to wait quietly by the bush where, half an hour earlier, everyone said there was an angry rattlesnake. I kept my eye on that bush.
Eventually we were all reunited, and I quickly realized, all was not well! Both Ben and Angela are hobbling with injuries. We deliberated and decided it was best to hike out, while we had the chance, to the hwy and hitch into the town of Julian a day early.
Luckily there was one car in the parking lot and two nice people from Wyoming have us a ride to Julian in their rental car.
Julian was only an 8 mile drive, yet the temperature and weather conditions couldn't have changed more rapidly. What a drastic change in scenery! Here we are, arriving in Julian, and it is 50 degrees and foggy! It feels like a coastal western town. It was hard to imagine the scorching hear we were in hours earlier.
The nice coupe dropped us off at a pie place... The feeling of homelessness set in and actually was quite comical. No plan, no place to sleep, hobbling up the misty strip with our heavy packs.
Saw the man who had gifted the Gatorade across the street and waved, gleefully, at him. Strange to know a face in such a foreign town.
Ate at Moms Pies, where we ate for free because we are hikers, AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING. Home made pie, ice cream and a drink of our choice!!! Hell yeah!!! We also signed their hiker book and perished it for names we knew. They also had a "Hiker Class of 2013" poster on the wall, which we signed as well.
So, here we are in Julian, resting our sore parts and re-assessing our condition and needs. It. Is. Heaven. I know that it's a little early for a zero day, and other hikers might think we are wimps, but we are taking care of our bodies, starting slow, and building up to a fast pace.... This is why we started early!
Drinking beer in clean white sheets, freshly showered, despite feeling hot and cold at the same time because of my sunburn, I am in h-e-a-v-e-n.
