Day 26 Redwoods

Miles hiked: 10.49

Camped at: mile 238.67

Hikers I camped with: 1

Total up/down: 3,999' / - 253'

Steps: 29,994

It's cold and I don't want to get up. The guy who's lovely tent site we ambushed last night is up and on his way around 7am. I poke my head out of my and say good morning. I crawl back in my sleeping bag. Ok, I really need to go to the bathroom, I come back and crawl back in my sleeping bag. I eat a poptart in my sleeping bag. I hear Andrea and decide to finally start getting my stuff together. I have no motivation.  

Today's hike is all uphill, we have a lot of elevation to climb. Andrea and I hike pretty close to each other and we keep stopping to take pics. We spend 10 mins trying to get the pic of the dragonfly. Today drags on and I am feeling sick to my stomach and have muscle fatigue in my legs. The gradual uphill gains are fine but and steps up or steep inclines and I'm out of breath and my legs are fighting each step. 

Poodle dog bush? There is this plant we see all day long, it kinda looks like poodle dog bush, from the pics I've seen, but is it? The flowers are white, PDB has purple flowers and I recall seeing brown leaves below the green ones. It's said to smell like Marijuana, but this stuff doesn't have a smell, does it? We smell it. I am 90 % sure this isn't poodle dog but still avoid it. Andrea is less sure and also avoids it all day. She reads that we should be seeing it soon, I check guthooks app and he doesn't mention it till 100 or so miles from now. PDB is like poisen oak, it can cause severe allergic reactions and blistering. It's really nasty and should be avoided at all costs, and definately don't smoke it! It may smell like weed, but it definately is not weed! PDB is a weed that grows in areas that have been recently burned. I cross the river and am about to climb over a fallen tree when I see written in sharpie on the tree, PDB --->, I look up and stop dead in my tracks. What we were seeing earlier definately wasn't PDB. It is taller than I expected. Some plants are about 5 feet high and it is all around. I stop and put on my pants. Just then other hikers start showing up and we all point it out. I maneuver around it and head uphill where a hiker is sitting in a nice little camp area. I joke and say to him "your not smoking poodle dog bush are you?" Fot the next couple miles uphill I hike with my head down, I'm exhausted, but then get a wif of the plant and look up and see more off trail. It does smell a bit like weed, but for the rest of the day is easy to avoid.

Later in the day I tell Andrea I'm beat and will most likely stop around dusk. My goal is a campsite near a spring. Before that is the last crossing of the river we have been following for 2 days. Water will be scarce after this. Andrea is hiking ahead of me now and I get to the last river crossing, I see a tent set up under these amazing pines, there are other flat spots and I consider stopping. I ask the guy where the river is, he says right over there, I look around, I'm exhausted. I open my app and look at the elevation gain to the spring. It's straight up (not literally, there are switchbacks) I know I'm done for the day and pick out my spot. It's so quiet tonight, not a peep from an animal, just the trickle of the nearby stream. It is a perfect place to camp.