Miles hiked: 19.7, plus ~2 on Van Duzen Rd
Today was a bit of a tough day. Last night I signed up for a 7:30 ride back to the trail. There is a storm coming in today with the possibility of a few inches of snow at higher elevations, temps below freezing, and strong winds. Past mile 275 where I exited for Big Bear, the trail stays a bit above 7000 for 10 or so miles then drops down to 5000 in the next 10 miles. My plan was to get back on the trail early today, and try to beat the weather down to lower elevations where it might not be as severe, and also hopefully take advantage of the cooler weather to get through a section of trail that can be pretty hot at times. The alternative would have been to wait out the storm a day or 2 in Big Bear. This wouldn't have been too bad since it's a nice town, but I've already taken 2 zero days and really wanted to be back out hiking. If anyone happens to be following along on a map at home, Big Bear is where the trail makes that big turn west. I left the Peninsular Range, that stump of the Baja Peninsula, back when I crossed I-10. Now I'm working my way through the Transverse Range, the East-West set of mountains in Southern California where there's a big kink in the San Andreas fault system. Now I'm skirting west around the Mojave desert, with the trail traversing along the northern slopes of these mountains.
I was up around 5 after not sleeping very well in the bunk room I was in. I caught up on the journal and sorted my food for the next 3 night section to Wrightwood. This took pretty much until a bit after 7, and I was left in a bit of a rush there at the end, huredly packing my bag and running a couple blocks away to get a coffee that wasn't very good anyway. At 7:30 we loaded into the hostel "shuttle" which is an old station wagon with a rear facing seat in the way back and a luggage rack on top for packs. We loaded up with 8 hikers and headed out, the rear bumper dragging here and there as we went through dips in the road. There was clearly no way this car could get us up the dirt road to the actual trail, so we were dropped at the end of the pavement and left to walk the last 2 or so miles. The other hikers shouldered packs and started up the road, but I hung back to call Libby once more and try to figure out when she might be able to come visit along the trail.
The time away from home and Libby and Abbey is hardest on the days I leave town. It's that time of uncertainty between two different worlds, between the conveniences of town which are so similar to home, and this other lifestyle I've chosen to live for a little while. It is impossible not to feel the tug of home at this time, and I think this is fine. It's fine to miss home, family, friends. Just like it will be fine to miss thru hiking when I am back home. Missing one part of your life while another part of your life is happening is just fine, and perhaps this is just a consequence of living a full life.
After the phone call, I started up the road, not particularly aware of my thoughts or feelings, and not particularly sure what they should be at that point anyway. I rechecked the water report and realized I was carrying 2 more liters than I needed, so I drank 1 as I walked up the road, and saved the other extra for brunch. I reached the trail at about 9:10, just as a pickup with a few hikers in back arrived; good timing. I hiked about an hour, through more of the same Jeff. Pine, juniper, pinyon forest, then stopped to have some granola that was left over from the last section. Similar to when I left Idyllwild, today I didn't eat much breakfast. I wasn't real hungry for some reason, and sort of ran out of time at any rate. Now the food went down fine and I smacked on a couple other things, and gave the rest of my extra water to a nearby shrub. After another hour and a half and 3 or 4 miles, the poor sleep last night caught up with me and I laid down next to the trail in the sun and with my pack sort of blocking the wind, and slept for about a half hour. This improved my somewhat moody demeanor, and so did some Pringles.
However, as the trail now began descending into Holcomb Creek Canyon, my feet began to suffer. The had gotten pretty sore 2 days ago when I had a long downhill, but yesterday they felt pretty good so I thought maybe it was just an off day. Bit today the pain and soreness were back again, both in my heel and the arches of my feet. I started to wonder if my shoes were already wearing out, or if maybe these "zero drop" ( sole thickness is same between heel and tow, so heel isn't raised) don't give my feet the support they need, especially for these consecutive 20-ish mile days. Some of these thoughts were supported when I reached Holcomb Creek and so pared shoe notes with Danger Muffin, who also has Altras. He thinks these shoes are fine for running when you're naturally up on your toes, but not really for backpacking where there is much more heel contact. This sounds right to me, but still plenty of people use these shoes without problem. I hobbled on another 10 miles from there to camp, still mostly downhill and still fairly rough on my feet.
The landscape was beautiful. The area had recently burned, and sage, lupine, and what seemed like black and live oaks were taking full advantage of the new sun now that the canopy was gone. There were big pale pink granite boulders, piled in disorderly collections and with soft, rounded edges so they looked like a bunch of giant marshmallows that had been gummed for a while then spit out.
At mile 291 I had a Snickers and this gave me a second wind to get another 4 or so miles sow the trail. These last miles actually went pretty quick, and I reached my intended destination for the day with just enough time to set of the shelter, make some water at the nearby creek, and get into my sleeping bag before some hail-type stuff started falling.
Birds:
Wilson's Warbler
Western Scrub-jay
Mountain Chickadee
Clark's Nutcracker
Fox Sparrow
Western Bluebird
Common Raven
White-breasted Nuthatch
Western Wood-pewee
Townsend's Warbler
Northern Flicker
Green-tailed Towhee
Spotted Towhee
Harry Woodpecker
Rock Wren
Mountain Quail
Bushtit
Black-chinned Sparrow
Olive-sided Flycatcher
American Kestrel
Brewer's Blackbird
Song Sparrow
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