Campsite in Sandy Dry Creek Bed to Third Gate Trail
What a comfortable campsite last night. It rained on and off which is soothing to listen to inside the tent, plus the ground was fairly level making it really comfortable to sleep. We woke just after 7:00 AM, made sure Wildcard was awake, then went about our morning chores that always take 2 hours no matter what.
Our campsite was close to the trail so we saw and talked to many hikers as they passed by. We met a woman who must have been in her 60s with blue hair named Blue Jay. She seemed to be. really strong hiker and planned to do over 15 miles today. Finally it was our time to hit the trail as well.
Barbra we feeling energetic and took off before Brad and I. It took us about 40 minutes to catch up and do our morning picture:
Our campsite was close to the trail so we saw and talked to many hikers as they passed by. We met a woman who must have been in her 60s with blue hair named Blue Jay. She seemed to be. really strong hiker and planned to do over 15 miles today. Finally it was our time to hit the trail as well.
Barbra we feeling energetic and took off before Brad and I. It took us about 40 minutes to catch up and do our morning picture:
Today the weather is perfect for hiking. We have a record 11.8 miles to hike today. Most of the hike is along a ridge looking out to an awesome view:
There seemed to be many hikers on the trail today. We remet a woman we met a couple of nights ago. She is headed to law school in August and is trying to complete as much of the trail as she can before that. Today she was hiking with a guy she met two years ago when she hikes a portion of the trail. The guy was just out for a day hike and told us that he plans on driving up to Third Gate, our final destination tonight, to provide some trail magic. We were excited but knew that by the time we got there everything will be gone, but we told him that we hoped to see him later. He turned back and lawyer girl continued so I thought I'd hike with her for a bit. Her plan today is a marathon 27 miles. Huh?!? I kept up with her for about a mile and told her good luck. With her speed and miles we won't be seeing her ever again.
Right at the 6 mile point, just before noon, we stopped for lunch. At this time we had caught up to Wildcard who left before us this morning, and she joined us for lunch.
Right at the 6 mile point, just before noon, we stopped for lunch. At this time we had caught up to Wildcard who left before us this morning, and she joined us for lunch.
This was the point that Barbra started to complain about her metatarsals again, reminding us all of her trail name Meta.
Oh, here is a picture of Wildcard. She is 19 and dropped out of college after just one year. She has held many odd jobs the past 2 years including a cook in Yellowstone National Park and in Lake Tahoe. Her current goal in life is to travel and live adventurously.
After lunch the scenery continued to amaze:
Since the trail today stayed on the ridge of a mountain fhat continued on all day, the trail slopped downhill which was to the left. After multiple miles of this, new pains appear in the knees, ankles, and feet. Barbra decided to try to walk sideways to overcome this trail tilt:
Finally, after almost 12 miles and 6 hours of hiking we made it to Third Gate. It really was a relief to get off the tilted trail today.
We made our way down the 1/4 mile side trail to the water cache that we knew was down there. We passing the Herbalicious couple on the we down. They were stopped for a break, but planned on going a couple of more miles today.
When we made it to the cache there were many other hikers there:
When we made it to the cache there were many other hikers there:
Most importantly, there was the guy we met earlier today that promised trail magic. We found out his name was Ninja Tank
As promised he brought many treats including PBR, chips & salsa, Oreos, and fresh fruit. We helped ourselves and thanked him over and over again.
Down by the cache we met many new hikers. We met 3 women who met while hiking the Appalachian Trsil and are now hiking the PCT together. They were each from New Jersey, Kansas, and Florida. We met a military brat turned military guy who's family was stationed in Warner Robins, same as me, and Utah, at the same time as me. So we reminisced about Utah for a while. Then came Wildchild again who decided to join us tonight and camp with us.
We found an incredible spot that all 3 of our tents could fit and made camp. While cooking dinner we looked up and there was 007. What?!? He should be way ahead of us by now. He paid us a visit and told us that he visited Julian and enjoyed it so much he stayed there 2 nights. Businesses offered him and his friends free pie, free pizza, free beer, and one place even let them sleep on the floor of the restaurant one night. Sounds like an incredible adventure.
It started raining so he ran off to set up his tent. We all rushed into our respective tents to eat our dinner and we all called it a night around 7:00 PM. Maybe with an early night we will get an earlier start...OK...probably not.
We found an incredible spot that all 3 of our tents could fit and made camp. While cooking dinner we looked up and there was 007. What?!? He should be way ahead of us by now. He paid us a visit and told us that he visited Julian and enjoyed it so much he stayed there 2 nights. Businesses offered him and his friends free pie, free pizza, free beer, and one place even let them sleep on the floor of the restaurant one night. Sounds like an incredible adventure.
It started raining so he ran off to set up his tent. We all rushed into our respective tents to eat our dinner and we all called it a night around 7:00 PM. Maybe with an early night we will get an earlier start...OK...probably not.