Day 45: A Taste of the Sequoias

Date: May 24, 2017
Miles: 587.3 – 607.3

“Fruit snacks are still not fruit.” ~ Me

We actually managed to get up and hiking by 5:30 this morning.  This waking up before the sun and hiking in the cold in running shorts thing is not my favorite, as I am not a morning person and I don’t like being cold. One of the best things in the world is to have a couple cups of coffee in bed while scrolling through the day’s headlines. But out here the desert sun dictates the schedule – at least it does if you have the desire to avoid carrying a ton of water and the potential for heat stroke. It is hot by 7:30 in the morning so the smart thing is to hike during the early morning and later evening hours and siesta during the day.

Today’s siesta was at Robin Bird Spring, where we met Byline, a journalist from Ohio. Byline had to take a few weeks off trail to recover from a serious infection that affected the whole lower half of one of his legs. He thinks he picked up a nasty bacteria at the Deep Creek hot springs. But now he’s back, and interviewing people for his podcast, ‘Between A & B.’  Connor, Katie and I, along with two other hikers, One Strap and Alexia, talked to him about life on trail versus life off of it. Hopefully we’ll get to hear the podcast soon!

After we left the spring, we had a really pleasant walk through a portion of the Sequoia National Forest. We’re all getting tired of the desert, and although we know that we have quite a bit of it left, it was a noticeable boost in everyone’s spirits to walk on pine needle laden paths under big trees along Landers Creek.

We camped alongside the creek and just before we went to bed, Connor saw a shape in the dark that he thought could have either been a man, or a bear, or a deer. I had set up camp a little ways away from them so I wouldn’t bother them with my nighttime coughing and sniffling, but at that point they helped me drag my stuff over to their campsite because I was a little freaked out at the thought of sleeping somewhat alone with a man-bear-deer wandering around. I guess I’m not as fearless as I thought!