April 25, 2007

What a glorious night it was!  We camped a mile shy of the east fork of Mission Creek.  My first break involved treating four liters of water before heading north.  I started before Ed and almost immediately, I was hiking backwards.  I saw a snake and freaked!  It was a black snake with yellow stripes going width-wise.  It coiled up before heading into the brush.

Today's hike sucked.  I traveled a mere 12 miles in a nine hour time period.  It was hot, dry, and the trail ran through rocks and burn area.  The burn area seemed to get to me mentally.  I felt extra hot hiking through this section.  I crossed Mission Creek about 10 times and each time I cooled off.  Within minutes, I was boiling again.  Ed and I broke for lunch at one of the creek crossings.  We ran into a trail maintenance crew who offered us all kinds of food.  Laura, a recent University of Chicago graduate, was lugging her bosses' extra food after her boss left the trail. Laura was most appreciative to unload any weight.  I happily ! took some flour tortillas and honey along with some dark chocolate.  Yum!  Yum!  My food was getting low so the timing could not have been better.  I watched Laura slip her humongous pack while sitting down.  She then rolled to her knees and crawled to the upright position.  It was a hilarious method but she seemed to know what worked for her.

Ed and I discussed our individual plans and I hiked on hoping to log more miles to get my to the post office for my next food supply on Friday.  I used my MP3 player for the first time today to distract me from my misery.  My son, Bruce, downloaded random songs for me before I left.  Thanks sweetie!  I'm probably no more than two miles ahead of Ed and I know we'll meet again in Big Bear City.  Ed's been great fun to hike with and I look forward to spending more trail time with him.  I am camping at an elevation of 7,300 feet all by myself about a mile short of Mission Creek Trail Camp, my next water source.  I opted not to climb the additional 600  feet because I am alone (well...I'm never really alone am I?) and there is a road at 7,965 feet.  This is my first night alone on this year's PCT hike.