Campsite at mile 232 to campsite at mile 248
We wake up to gusting winds and a tent that is threatening to blow away with us in it. We need to move, immediately, or else our only form of housing is going to tear apart around us. Within 15 minutes we’re packed and moving down the trail, the wind making it too difficult to eat more than a few bites of mushed candy bar for breakfast.
From camp the trail climbs steeply and I’m already bonking, hard. Aren’t I supposed to be getting better at hiking? Why does everything feel so impossible today? Keith says he feels like he’s really starting to get his hiker legs. I say I’m about to fall asleep standing up. Thank god for Keith who immediately recognizes that I’m simply hungry and navigates us to the closest campground so we can eat a proper breakfast out of the wind.
This happenes when I hike, (often enough that I should know better by now) where I get tired instead of hungry and then I don’t want to eat and then everything spirals downward from there. But after snacks I feel amazing! Food means miles and smiles, and suddenly the world is back in color. Hiking! I love hiking!
Keith and I power uphill (which will be somewhat of a theme today as we climb 5,000 vertical feet towards Big Bear) along with Enigma, Bright Side, Jumanji, and Warrior. Send train! We’re hiking through an old burn, the trees look like dalmatians, all bleached white trucks and soot blackened spots.
My mood and energy are directly tied to food today and soon we stop for lunch with Parsley, Cool Breeze, and Cup of Joe, the whole Idyllwild gang of here! After lunch it’s just Keith, Jumanji, and myself pushing up up up onto a ridge and into the wind. The wind today is otherworldly, at once all around us and then suddenly calm. You can hear it raging overhead, sometimes ruffling past you, other times slamming down hard, whipping pack straps into exposed skin. The trees groan and shudder and I cannot figure out which way the wind is coming from, we’re in a torrent of wind howling powerful angry wind. A monster shaking the entire valley. The kind of gusts that make it hard to breathe, that pushes you sideways, that makes me laugh aloud. What are we doing up here? We are nothing, nothing compared to this wind. It’s an incredible experience, to feel so small. Fueled by gluten free bagels and Doritos I’m finding joy in everything today. The wind, our hubris, our endurance and fortitude, the sun and the clear blue sky. Good gracious this living thing really is grand.