Banana Dumpster

I started hiking a little earlier than K this morning. I couldn’t really sleep because of the wind and the flapping of my tent (again) so I decided to get up and get ready instead of laying awake in agony.

After seven miles I found myself at the last water source for about 17 miles. Anticipating a hot day I loaded up with six liters of water. Man. 12 pounds of water is annoying. But I would rather carry more than necessary (which ended up being the case) than too little.

After the first seven miles the mental and physical fatigue started to settle in. My phone’s battery was so low it wouldn’t show me the screen so I just assumed it had turned off and I was not in the mood to take my charging brick out of the depths of my pack. So I went the rest of the 22 total miles without taking pictures, listening to music or any other type of distraction to speak of. It was pretty nice because the miles just blended together but that is only speaking with hindsight. During those miles I was pretty distraught just wanting to get out of the what seemed to be endless fire disrupted area.

At the end of the day my feet hurt and I was walking at a pace so slow I felt like I moving in slow motion. BUT right before we found a relatively decent place to set up camp K and I found a dumpster on the trail. IT HAD BANANAS IN IT!! There was also a pretty gross couch next to the trail magic dumpster. It took me much more effort to get out of than I would have liked.

We found a spot to set up our tents along some other hikers. It was windy but I was able to stake my tent tight enough to keep the flapping rainfly to a minimum. I fell right asleep even though I was wearing my pillow (all my warm clothes).

It was a good night. Yay! Big Bear City tomorrow!