Amazingly, although I slept with only my thin, roll-up pad and sleeping bag against a rock I had adequate rest. I felt pretty good. This morning I did something unusual. I had breakfast before I got on my way. I believe this was the first day I had done breakfast since being on trail.
It quickly became hot. And miserable. My goal was to make it to a water cache. What stinks is after you THINK you’ve gotten to the water cache you need to walk almost a mile down in order to get to it. Hot and exposed with almost no shade.
Iris was there. She was sunburned. I felt so sorry for her. She’s from the Netherlands. She was putting on her sunscreen. We chatted for a while and then she went on. She said that she had been there for quite some time. A few minutes after she left I noticed that she had left her sunscreen so I put it in my pack. I thought I would see her again for sure.
I was told that there was shade by another hiker, but half an hour can make a big difference in the sun’s position and so by the time I got there, there wasn’t any shade for me to enjoy. So I gave that up and continued on. Partway up the trail from the water cache I found a large bush, and I hid under that for about an hour or so.
The end of the day was better than the beginning. I had a beautiful hike with a bit of elevation gain – but it was fine. I found a nice tent spot. Eventually, Dave Number Two came (so called because he was the second Dave that I met) camped near me at the same site. He saw an enormous rattlesnake that wouldn’t move. So he called me over and made sure that I would be able to see it as well. It indeed was very huge – but he was just relaxing and not upset at all so he didn’t bother me. (I would estimate – not exaggerating – over 5ft long, over 3in diameter.)
