My first rest day
Trip Start
May 15, 2005
1
2
13
Trip End
Oct 2005
Idyllwild,
California,
United States
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
I finally found a decent internet connection. Things are going well. I'm in Idyllwild, CA taking a day off, finally. Been hiking lots of miles over the last week or so. Here are my daily mileage totals so far - 15th 20.2 miles, 16th 22.2 miles, 17th 27 miles, 18th 22 miles, 19th 20 miles, 20th 20 miles, 21st 25 miles, 22nd 16 miles, 23rd 20 miles.
Right now I'm at about 180 official miles along the trail. My feet hurt every night but seem to be fine when I wake up. The first day was weird, with all those miles in front of me, but I soon got into a groove and just kept it up. I almost stepped on a 5-foot long rattlesnake within the first 4 miles. It coiled up instantly and rattled at me. Good adrenaline boost.
The scenery up until the day before yesterday was almost all desert
Burnt Rancheria
. Wide open views with mountains in the distance. Now I've climbed through those mountains. I hit snow for the first time yesterday. Had to do some navigation, but it wasn't as difficult as I thought.Having made it this far, I know for sure I can finish the whole trail. Money is actually my main concern. You'de be amazed how it flies out your pocked when you hit a resupply town.
I've met some interesting people already. Some are dayhikers but most are thru-hikers like myself. We pass each other now and then and have some great conversations about things like how much the San Felipe Hills suck and I never want to see them again as long as I live. When you're hiking in 100 or 110 degrees nothing is super fun. The fun part is stopping at the end of the day and cooking food. I've only set up my shelter two times. Once on the first night to check out how it was going to work, the other during a 50mph windstorm at Burnt Rancheria. Every other night I just lay out my bag and stare into space. The stars are amazing.
I uploaded some pictures. Some mistakenly say they're from Seattle. You'll figure it out. I'm still figuring out this site as I go.
Keep the emails coming. I do appreciate them.
Drew
