I slept in this morning until 6:30, oh the scandal!! When I did finally get out of the tent, there was a sunrise to the east and a rainbow to the west. This may sound lovely to you folks at home, to me it meant that it was raining in the west (where the weather Is coming from) and it may be about to get hot as the sun is rising. I'll post the rainbow the at the bottom of this entry.
I hiked a few miles up a ridge, getting more and more worried about the weather. I knew that I would be getting to at least 8,000 feet that night. It looked stormy up high, in fact, I couldn't even see "up high" because of the storm clouds.
At mile 4 or so I ran into 30 Pounds of Oats and we hiked together up a valley for the next 16 miles. It was great having someone to talk to, someone who knew what it is like to solo hike, and just to have someone else set he pace for a few hours.
As the the valley narrowed, it started to sprinkle (or "rain" as they call it here in Southern California). We were walking through a section that had previously burned and it couldn't have been more catoonishly ominous. Burnt tree trunks an cacti were scattered among low shrubs, the sky was dark with rain clouds and the wind was beginning to blow. It was actually a little funny, especially as I was not facing it alone.
At about 3:30, I hit my 20 mile mark (which was an INCREDIBLE feeling!), found the last water for 16 miles, and ran into another group of hikers. As I sat around with the waft (waft: n. a group of hikers. ie: oh yeah, the waft passed through Big Bear about an hour or so ago, eating everything in sight.), I heard tell of a cabin that was just six miles away and that would shelter is from the rain. Tips was especially appealing as it supposedly had a fireplace and we were all damp.
So what do you know, we all hitched up our packs and hit the trail, trying to beat the sunset. It was a beautiful walk, through clouds and when we finally broke through them, we could see down Ito the desert.
The cabin turned out to be a large shack. There were six other hikers camped out inside when we got there. After a quick dinner, as the temperature was dropping rapidly at 8,100 feet, I put on all of clothing (minus the raincoat as it was still damp from the morning's drizzle) and jumped iny sleeping bag, covering that with my tent for extra insulation. It is a good thing I did because the next morning I awoke to frost on my neighbor's sleeping bag!!
I hiked a few miles up a ridge, getting more and more worried about the weather. I knew that I would be getting to at least 8,000 feet that night. It looked stormy up high, in fact, I couldn't even see "up high" because of the storm clouds.
At mile 4 or so I ran into 30 Pounds of Oats and we hiked together up a valley for the next 16 miles. It was great having someone to talk to, someone who knew what it is like to solo hike, and just to have someone else set he pace for a few hours.
As the the valley narrowed, it started to sprinkle (or "rain" as they call it here in Southern California). We were walking through a section that had previously burned and it couldn't have been more catoonishly ominous. Burnt tree trunks an cacti were scattered among low shrubs, the sky was dark with rain clouds and the wind was beginning to blow. It was actually a little funny, especially as I was not facing it alone.
At about 3:30, I hit my 20 mile mark (which was an INCREDIBLE feeling!), found the last water for 16 miles, and ran into another group of hikers. As I sat around with the waft (waft: n. a group of hikers. ie: oh yeah, the waft passed through Big Bear about an hour or so ago, eating everything in sight.), I heard tell of a cabin that was just six miles away and that would shelter is from the rain. Tips was especially appealing as it supposedly had a fireplace and we were all damp.
So what do you know, we all hitched up our packs and hit the trail, trying to beat the sunset. It was a beautiful walk, through clouds and when we finally broke through them, we could see down Ito the desert.
The cabin turned out to be a large shack. There were six other hikers camped out inside when we got there. After a quick dinner, as the temperature was dropping rapidly at 8,100 feet, I put on all of clothing (minus the raincoat as it was still damp from the morning's drizzle) and jumped iny sleeping bag, covering that with my tent for extra insulation. It is a good thing I did because the next morning I awoke to frost on my neighbor's sleeping bag!!
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