Day 16 omg the heat.

Miles hiked: 14.74 + .25 (OT)

Camped at: Paradise Valley Cafe - deck

Hikers I camped with: 10

Total up/down: 2,981' / - 1,637'

Steps: 47,141

Today started out so great.

I woke up right on schedule, 6am, and began breaking camp. I filled my water from the spring and started down the trail. The 19 yr old kid I had camped with that night was also heading out. He had something seriously wrong with his feet and shuffled as he walked. He hoped to make it 8 miles, then to the cafe the next day. I'm not sure if he will be able to continue after that but he sure is determined! Most people had camped the 1/4 mile uphill from the spring and were coming down for water as I was heading out. 

The trail wasn't that bad today it's just the weather! It is so hot and there is very little shade. We are pretty close to the town of Anza, walking just on the other side of the hill from it. About mid-day the town came into sight. It was interesting that a lot of the homes on the outskirts were on flattened out tops of hills with a water tank and a mobile home or camper on it. The 1st one I saw I thought was trail magic and got all excited, then I realized it was just someone's home. One mile after that was a water cache, I didn't really need any water but never pass up an opportunity, so I grabbed about 1 liter. This was a cache I had seen in videos so like everything else it was cool to see in real life.

For the next several hrs I hiked along the side of the mountain overlooking the town of anza. The temperature reached 100 and it was miserable hiking. I had plenty of water but kept worrying about electrolytes so I kept eating snacks, which made me sick or was it lack of electrolytes making me sick. I was so hot I worried that I wasn't thinking straight in the heat so I kept pushing the electrolytes,  better to be on the safe side. At one point I found some shade under some brush and sat down. I took of my shirt off and just sat there with my head on my pack, I was miserable but the breeze was amazing. I did all I could to keep myself from throwing up. I thought, if I just throw up I'll feel better, but I actually refused to throw up because I had so much in my stomach I didn't want to lose. Is that crazy or what? This sure takes you to places mentally and physically you never imagined. I was passed by 5 20 something yr old hikers and I felt even worse. How the hell are they hiking in this? Why can't I? Today sucks. 

I had about 8 miles to hike if I wanted to get to the cafe. Most people were pushing hard to get there but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Not long after they passed me I saw a sign that said "emergency water and hiker box, 50 feet" I didn't need water but thought I would check it out. There was a picnic table and coolers and a bin full of stuff. I opened the cooler and saw sodas, I almost cried. I grabbed one and sat down near the hiker box in the shade. There were lots of items, poptarts, hot chocolate mix, lemonade mix, boxes of zip locks, a first aid kit, and other things.. all day I had been nursing the bottoms of me feet that both had hot spots on the pads under your toes. Nothing I had seemed to be working so I grabbed some of their duct tape and some bandades. I felt so much better. I can't describe how much this trail magic meant to me, it came along at just the right time! 

I decided to push for the paradise cafe. One thing was clear, I did end up getting at least one blister, but there is nothing I can do now, I just need to hike. Achilles messaged me that she was at the cafe and was hitching to hurkey campground. I hiked with so much determination. The cafe closed at 8 pm and I just wanted to reward myself for getting through this really tough day. Although I wasn't really sure what I would do after the cafe. I don't hitch alone so hopefully there will be a hiker there that would go to the campground with me! Around 7:15 pm I reached the road, the cafe is one mile north. How fast can you hike colleen? How badly do you want that meal? Haha. Oh look, pretty flowers.. 

At 7:45 I reached the paradise cafe. And what a sight to behold, about 15 hikers were sitting out on the patio, I could have cried... again. As I walked up a waitress walked up to me with a glass of ice water. They know our struggles well! I asked everyone what they were doing for the night and they all said "we are sleeping here". The cafe let's hikers sleep on the deck. All they ask is that we are all up and have our stuff packed up by the time they open at 8 am. Um no problem! We always wake up around 6.. always. 

I ordered a grilled ham and cheese with tomato and coleslaw, and a coke. It was amazing. And so is this cafe! I left a hefty tip and the waitress even asked if I was sure about that.. oh yes I was! After sitting around we all started claiming our spots around the tables and headed to bed. Around 10 pm I heard a hiker walk up. I said "come on the patio" but she looked around then walked around not sure of what to do. Then a bunch of us said, you can sleep here, much louder and you could see the relief as she realized we were all sleeping just out of sight. When she got closer I realized it andrea, the girl that shaved her head the night before we started! It was so nice to see her again! 

I settled back into my sleeping bad and put this day behind me.

"Dead animals in water :("

Micro flowers

Trail magic, just when I needed it most

Stink bug

Flowers on the side of road

Awesome sheriff giving a hiker a ride to town

Day 15 what goes up must come down

Miles hiked: 14.72 + .72 (ot) + .25 (ot)
Camped at: Tule Spring
Hikers I camped with: 1
Total up/down: 1,889' / - 3,426'
Steps: 43,000

I awoke in the tiniest little camp with Achilles.  We enjoyed the sunrise and coffee and packed up our tiny camp. When I started walking I was amazed that my feet didn't hurt and my legs seemed strong and walking seemed easy. Did I take ibuprofen this morning? I can't remember but I must of. A few miles down the trail is a water cache and trail house. We stopped in for a quick break and to check the place out. almost everyone had left that morning and only 3 guys from Tacoma were there. Turns out one of the recognized my daughter from where she works, what a small world.
The hike after that was still uphill and I fell behind Achilles quite a bit. Then it started going down hill... and down and down. Miles of it. My knees and feet were not happy!  I was shooting for mile 140 but by the time I got to the water cache at 136.5 I was beat!
I passed Achilles on my way down, she was headed on to 140. I told her I didn't have it in me and would camp here.
I set up my tent, talked to a 19 yr old kid who had been there for a day recovering then said good night and I was out!

Day 14 two weeks!

Miles hiked: 12.7
Camped at: mile 122.2
Hikers I camped with: 1
Total up/down: 2,989' / - 879'
Steps: 41,138

I have to get out of warner springs... I feel like I am stuck here and am starting to miss the trail. I didn't plan to leave till mid morning so I could have a pretty relaxed morning. Again we had a pretty windy night, my tent did great but others didn't fair so well. The usual morning stir started around 6am. The community center doesn't open till 8 so we have a couple hours to do our chores and sit around.. I did the usual breakfast there, charged my devices then headed out around 11. A little later than I wished and immediately wondered what I was thinking! It was hot and I soon realized all up hill, or up mountain should I say. The nice thing was that in the for a couple hours I got some cover here and there from the lushness of the river valley we were in.
Did I mention it was all up? I'm not sure what the elevation gain was on that, but holy cow, that was some hard hiking! It seems that I am getting a bit stronger, my legs and butt didn't hurt as much, but all sorts of weird pains were going on in my feet! I pretty much had to take ibuprofen and aleve constantly.
Water was an issue after the last river crossing, a spring was pretty dry and written in the sand nearby was "bad water" and "gross". I knew if I did a decent amount of miles today I would only have to hike a couple miles in the morning for more. I picked a goal campsite. Basically my app shows me where areas are that I can camp.  Some are small 1 person spots some are bigger.
It was starting to get dark and I wondered how far Barbara (I mean Achilles, her trail name) had gotten so I turned my phone on. One site that I thought she might be at had no one, so I kept going. 1 more mile to the next one and I would have to stop there. I checked my phone to see how close I was and there was a message from Achilles saying she was at 124. I had just started 124 so I knew I was close, but the site I had in mind was at the end of 124 so I kicked it into gear as the sun had set and the light was fading. Not 5 mins later I see her tent tucked in a nook. I can't believe I bumped into her like that I had thought that she was way ahead! We squeezed my tent into the space and talked about how rough of a day it was then quickly went to bed

Lots of pics today... enjoy

A delicate balancing act..

Look for the spider in the pic below...

Day 13 Back to Warner Springs 4/26

Well last night was crazy. Strong winds and rain lasted till around 2 or 3 am. The wind pulled out two stakes on my tent so one side kept blowing against me. I put my food bag between me and the tent wall and went back to sleep. In the morning the rain was gone and packing up started early. I packed all my wet gear into my pack and headed over to the ride share area. I got my cup of coffee and stood around waiting for some awesome person to take pity on me, and the other 3 people heading to warner springs. A man who had been standing there talking to us decided to just take us and go see eagle rock while he was in the area. Another awesome trail angel! We all piled into his vehicle and headed back. It felt good to be leaving, I felt like this place was in my past and I just wanted to be back where I had left off.
When we arrived at the the community center there were 2 surprises waiting for me. The first one was Barbara! She had spent a couple more days in jullian healing and had arrived in warner springs the night before! The other surprise were my trekking poles, sitting in the office, I was reunited and I hugged them too! I spent the day working on my blog and getting all caught up and figuring out my resupply for the next 5 days till Idyllwild. the box I had sent myself went to Idyllwild because I put the wrong zip code on the box! So between what I had left over, some items in the hiker box and the little store they have here I now have enough food to get me to the next stop.
The center closes at 4 and we all headed outside and back to tent life. I crawled in mine and spent the night writing my blogs. Another hiker had some leftover hotdogs so he shared and I was happy to have one! Today was hopefully my last zero day for awhile. It's time to start putting some more miles on these feet.