The day started out quite poorly, with dust being blown into tent around 2-3 AM, thanks to my choice of pitching the tent in a recently graded patch of bare soil. Very blustery day. Erin's feet were still in poor repair, but we made good time until lunch.
Apparently there was a Super Cobra crash in the area, which resulted in the scattering of unexplored ordinandce off-trail.
We refilled our water in Long Canyon Creek, where a black chinned hummingbird flitting about was. Somehow, I managed to puncture my platypus bladder, but thankfully I noticed before shoving it into my loaded pack on top of my sleeping bag. We climbed up a long chaparral grade to pine woodland in Mt. Laguna. A hiker named Oakdale, who wore a white long-sleeved base later with "false prophet" scrawled across the front, blew past me as I stopped to take a picture.
Erin hiking through the pine woodlands atop Mt. Laguna.
View of the Salton Sea from the trail coming into Mt. Laguna.
We saw Kit and Marshall near thBurnt Rancheria CG, then proceeded to Mt. Laguna store. Lots of hikers present, including Paule, Diego, spoon man, the Germans, Marco & Erin, and Joe & Nancy. Erin, Marshall and I stuffed ourselves @ the Pine house and had some excellent burgers and stone ipa's.
Delicious burgers and brews at the Pine House.
Erin compares new and old insoles.
Erin picked up some insoles at the Outfitter(Doug) who had an awesome shop and excellent prices. We picked up our resupply box and a six pack, then headed to the picnic area to enjoy the sunset with Marshall, Joe and Nancy. We bootlegged a campsite at the picnic area after a nice fire, several beers and a couple smokes. We talked of lives left at home, wilderness tales, and the difficulties that lie ahead. Joe mentioned that the completion rate of the thru-hike was less than 50% - a statistic that did not settle well with my paranoid-stoned brain. Erin and I tucked in on our nearly worthless sleeping pads and snoozed away
Coolest critters: not very exciting, but a tie between an inquisitive black-chinned hummingbird at the water refill in long canyon and an Unidentified flycatcher (perhaps western wood peewee) observed near the top of mt Laguna
50%? You're always in the top 10% of everything you do because you're a goddamn animal. Don't worry about that statistic! Just catching up reading your first weeks posts this morning - entertaining stuff. Keep pushing ahead through the desert and helping Erin stay strong. -Karl
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