Miles traveled: 22.12
Mile marker: 41.5
It’s 5:00 am when I hear,
«Hello hello?» Dad is singing and carries it through my earplugs. We stayed in a campground full of campers, so last night was on the noisier side.
Looking inside my tent, I see my electronics bag, my first aid kit, my clothes, my sleeping bag, my sleeping pad, my pillow, my earplugs, my headlamp, and everything else.
Should I go brush my teeth first? Store my sleeping bag? Put on my day clothes? I feel lost just looking at it all.
It’s been 30 minutes since we woke up and dad is packed. I’m not.
Good.
«We’re in no hurry, Kate. Take your time.» Dad encourages me not to stress. Upon request, Dad prepares my morning drink: hot chocolate mixed with instant coffee in cold water.
As soon as I leave my tent, I limp forward like I’m a tree that suddenly grows two feet. My walkers? Yes. They hurt. I have a safety pin sized blister on the outside of each of my heels. Even though I fought off hot spots yesterday with Compede, plus four other spots between my two feet, that didn’t stop those bad boys from forming.
We will be traveling again soon and I have two protein cookies ready to go. Turns out the giggle doodle is my favorite. Today there will be a long and subtle climb to Mount Laguna.
The day starts calmly, but soon begins to heat up. Our path turns into rocks. Big rocks, small rocks, all rocks that hurt my feet when stepping on them or my knees when going down. My legs are used to the easy movement of stepping forward. A big step down? Apparently that’s asking a lot of my knees.
There are unique rocks everywhere. Some of them look like they’ve been hit with an ax by a giant – completely cut in half! They are rounded and come in all kinds of shapes. Dad is fascinated by these. How did the rocks get here?
Kitchen Creek is one of our water points. It’s a short run to a small puddle of water. We enter and immediately my body is paralyzed by the cold. There are other hikers here too. Many of us met them in Cleef, our starting point. I spread my sleeping bag out to dry a bit, as the condensation from my tent wets the foot of the bag in the mornings.
Rafiki goes to filter the water, but there is a problem. This was our first point: we used our filters, but your Sawyer Sueeze water filter is not working! We shared our filters with him, but he went down the Leverage Path and had never had any problems before. It seems that these things must be tested beforehand.
Before we leave, the sun makes its debut and I’m sweating. I decide to do a full dunk like Dad and Rafiki did. I slide slowly into the water and the cold gets into my skin. To hell with that! I throw myself on my back under the water. Once I respawn, it won’t be so bad!
I brace myself again, then I feel something against my lower back. It’s abrasive and it’s not supposed to be there.
Uh-oh.
It looks like pebble sand got into my shorts.
I take off my shoes, socks, and backpack again and go back into the water, trying to get the remains of my shorts out.
It worked. A bit.
The sun is hotter, but fortunately not as hot as yesterday! My clothes are slowly drying and it feels so good to have cool clothes back on my skin in this hot weather. The remains of my shorts require about four more futzing sessions before I feel sand-free.
We located a shady place perfect to rest under a tree. It’s a little early for lunch and I’m feeling good, so we move on. Dad mentioned that there should be some canopy trees ahead.
Only there isn’t.
We walk and walk. Where are these canopy trees? We are walking on a narrow path. The trees in the distance grow greener and more join the spectacle, but none of them shade us from this scorching sun!
Finally Dad sees some tall weeds on a slope. The flies fly around him and he shoos them away. It’s not the best place, but it was ready to eat about a hundred kilometers ago. Caterpillars cover the ground and questions arise about whether they are poisonous. I hope not! I try not to touch them after that.
My tuna tortilla wrap tastes a little weak compared to my lunch yesterday: a tuna wrap with fries! It was amazing. Salty, crunchy and all perfect for a hike. I’m still really hungry, so I eat an extra bar. If I eat too much we can always go to town for more tonight.
We move on as soon as we’re done. The flies bother us and it’s not even a good place to rest. It’s hot, but Rafiki and I have a good conversation about celebrity crushes (which, by the way, he basically doesn’t have any) and his favorite foods.
With an upset stomach, I begin to slow down. Dad walks with me until I feel better, but I slowed my pace so much that the rest of the group kept going.
The day starts to seem endless at this point. It seems like the post-lunch drag is still present both on and off trail. Except worse. We are about 24 kilometers away when we see Rafiki raising his feet on the most beautiful and shady tree.
We joined him and watched the sun dance through the branches and the caterpillars crawl up our bags and legs. There are too many to defend, so I forget about my concern for the furry, poisonous reptiles and pick them off with my fingers.
There are no symptoms so far.
The Compede Blister Tape has peeled off my feet, so Rafiki lets me use some of his Leuko tape for the fat blisters on my heels. How holy!
We turn from low, rocky, dusty brush to another page. It’s green here with tall trees and it’s like you’ve entered the east coast. It cools down significantly. We walk a little further and I know our camp is close.
Even just a mile away, it feels like three times that distance! My feet hurt from the pressure of my weight on them all day. Plus, we’ve been walking on rocks. I’m exhausted, hungry and my feet are so sore.
We finally arrived at the campsite! You have to pay $35 per lot, but a man there lets us camp on his land. There are supposed to be only 8 stores per lot. With dad, Rafiki and I, we make nine. Nobody counts!
Now that we are among the trees, the temperature has dropped significantly. It is around six in the afternoon and the clouds cover us. I quickly put on my fleece and my raincoat to cut off the cold.
Dinner is something I’ve been thinking about since lunchtime. It’s even better than I imagined.
Ram pump.
A package of instant ramen, buttery mashed potatoes, and a package of tuna.
Was scrumptious.
Dennis from Ohio and Thomas from France had arrived at camp about an hour before us. They stand around the table while we cook, chatting with us and the other hikers. By us, I mean dad. Exhausted from the day and frozen by this cold, I only care about eating and then sleeping. Dennis asks Dad a lot of questions about the team. I finish eating and leave.
A cold snickers bar for dessert; It was a little tough for my taste, but it was still tasty. Then the tent goes up.
The tent is something I haven’t mastered yet, so Dad has to help me line up everything correctly. It’s finally over.
I rinse my dirty feet in the bathroom sink (I forgot my towel at the store, but my feet hurt too much to go back) and change into my wool sleepwear. By then it’s dark outside and I go into my tent.
Sleep wants to take over me before I finish writing the diary. The days have been long and hard so far. My feet are tender when I walk and I definitely get hiker’s limp early in the morning or after a long rest.
I close my eyes to sleep and discover that while my head is slightly higher than my feet, I am also tilted to the right. If I lie on my left side I start to slide off my mat a little, or so it seems. So I can only sleep on my back, stomach or right side.
This will be a very eventful night.
