Mt Whitney

Georgia on top of Mt Whitney, sunrise June 8 

Thursday 5/17 8:54PM mile 444

The past two days have been long, hot, and poodle dog bushy.  This poodle dog bush is a vicious plant sort of like poison oak or ivy, but worse.  Rubbing up against it can leave you rashed and blistered for weeks, and more than a few hikers were hospitalized last year because of it.  The poodledog bush has completely taken over the trail in places, so there has been a lot of road walking yesterday and today.  Water was very scarce, and the long, exposed road walking wasn't easy.  I am still hiking with the Wolfpack, and we decided that since the road was pretty easy to navigate we could comfortably wait out a bit of the heat, and do some night hiking when it was cooler.  It was a velvety cool breeze evening as we walked all together up a lonely mountain road. The road took us through the hauntingly burned shell of a correctional facility that got caught in a fire up there about 3 years ago.  Ghosts and zombies seemed to be absolutely oozing out of the gaping, black windows, and out the back seats of crusted, rusted cars.  It was properly petrifying, but thrilling none the less, and even more so when we got completely turned around and had no idea what way to go.  The night was called at the end of a road that dead ended into a wide, flat turn-about.  I still fell asleep quickly and comfortably despite my proximity to all kinds of spirits and undead.  It was a good and early start today, and by 6 o'clock we were back on track ready to fill the morning with steady miles.  A KOA campground just off the trail was the destination for the day with promises of pools, pizza, and soda pop.  It was a good 18+ miles from the haunted village, but the goal was to make it before 3pm.  It got so hot and I felt like I was off trail sometimes because of how steep and overgrown things were.  Lots of tall manzamita and other shrubby, desert brush covered the trail, with lots of poodle dog brush sneaking in all over the place.  It was just before 2:30 when I collapsed into the grass at this campground.  It's been a great afternoon.  I swam and ate pizza and drank soda.  There are also a few hikers here I haven't ever seen before, so it's been fun to meet some new people.  Everyone is headed to the Saufley's house tomorrow, so it's cool to meet people now.  Early morning tomorrow, so I'm going to shut my eyes now.

-Georgia

Tuesday 5/15 9:19PM Day 30

Hiking wise these past two days haven't been easy, but the summer camp feel is still going strong.  I had a relaxing rest day at the house in Hesperia.  The Wolfpack is pretty fun, and we all took it really easy in this hot little desert town.  Shannon and Kelly are sisters, and met the Wolfpack hiking a few weeks ago.  Shannon is back on the trail now, and her sister dropped us all off yesterday with promises of meeting up soon.  We were dropped off at the base of Baden Powell Mountain very steep, and heading up into a bit more snow.

Mile 378, Mt Baden Powell

I've struggled a little with the steep ups and downs of the last two days.  My knees and ankles still can't quite hack it.  I also got a really stupid injury slipping in the snow and essentially punching myself in the face with the end of my stick.  The screw in the end of my stick left a small puncture in my cheek, and it's a little bruised.  My busted open lip has just healed up enough so it doesn't hurt to smile, and now it is tender to stretch my cheek.  I also took a nose dive tripping over a log fallen across the trail.  But I barely scraped my knee.  I've been pretty pleased with how careful I have been about not getting hurt out here.  It really has taken an intentional energy to make sure I don't do anything careless.  Even a small cut on the bottom of my foot from running around barefoot could mean a really tough day or two of not being able to walk easily.  The trail has been difficult to follow the past two days, and I've been happy to have hiking companions to find the way with.  At the end of the day yesterday we all walked about a mile and a half down the wrong trail as it was getting dusky, and it would have been almost impossible for me to have motivated myself to walk all the way back up to our trail had I been alone.  However, having everyone retain such good attitudes in such a frustrating situation made it almost enjoyable to make our way back to the trail and eventually a campsite.  Today was a very hard day for me physically, but it was a wonderful hiking temperature, and there were some fantastic views and stretches of trail along the creek.  The 5 of us -Creep, Cosmo, Camshaft, Shannon and I- made it to a campsite just after 6, and just past 400 miles.  Supper was a social affair with everyone sharing bites and sips.  Now we are all cowboy camping around a fire drinking hot chocolate with whiskey.  By cowboy camping I mean sans tent, just our tarps and sleeping bags.  I've cowboy camped the majority of my nights on the trail, and love it.  I can't believe it's already been a month out here.  I think I've slept under a roof 5 times, and taken 6 showers.  It's just one day at a time, but I do feel just the epitome of content most days.  It's nice to buddy up with a crew for a few days.  These guys have given me my official trail name - "Lil B".  It's up to interpretation which I like, but it mostly stands for Little Bear, for when that girl thought I was a bear, or Little Bubbles for the imprint my shoes make in the sand.  There are a lot of B-words that I'm a little of, so it works out well.  Definitely not Little Blister though, those things are huge.  I'm going to look up at the stars now, not down at this page.  Goodnight y'all.  400 miles!

-Georgia