When my new trail family left this morning at 6.00 I decided to sleep a bit longer. My sleeping bag was a bit damp so I waited for the sun to dry it out before I packed it.
And then I left cruising my own speed – had been a long time since Inwas able to do this. Not that I did not enjoy hiking in a group the last few weeks. Not at all. But I really enjoyed running up the slopes again until I couldn’t push it further any more. And I took some more time again for my photography…
The first half of the day went through beautiful pine forest. The dry ground below and millions of pine needles reminded me a lot on Portugal. And through the forest ran a few little streems providing the precious water and also some water game opportunities.
At lunch we reunited for the rest of the day. A nice little break, nap, wasing of socks and off we went into the open area again. This area is one of the driest so far. We are entering a section of about 40 miles without a reliable water source. You can only hope for some water caches to be stacked. Luckily Bangarang was doing some trail magic and promised us to hide some water for us right in the middle of the stretch. That of course makes a huge difference and cuts down the water cariage from 8 to 4 liters!
When we decided to camp after about 25 miles we had still 15 miles left to the cache were Bangerang was this night. Too far to get there on time. But he said he would stay until the morning. So I decided to push on for a bit maybe getting half of the distance in tonight and then getting up early to be there before 7am and catch a left over burger or so… 😉
So another little speed hiking section today. Left at 18.45 and cruised right into the sunset. I’ll let the pictures speek for themselves. Gorgeous views over the desert and the first glimpses on the Sierras. We are coming mountains… 😍😍😍
Right before it got really dark I passed the 1,000km marker! 1000km! Uhhiiii… If I look on the map and where we are it doesn’t look like we are getting close to 25%…
And then it turned dark at 8.30pm and I was still on the ridge with nowhere to pitch a tent…
But of course “the trail will provide” and a few minutes later I found a spot, pitched my tent, had dinner and set the alarm for 4.30am… Time to catch Bangarang! 🤘🏼
