Day 5 4/20

Today was my toughest day yet, but I am extremely proud of myself, and have been rewarded with my first taste of trail magic!  I headed off on the trail pretty close to 5:30am.  I'm pretty properly in the desert now, and I knew that it was going to be blisteringly hot, and that my leg would be trouble.  The first 8 miles were quite trying.  Lots of steep descents, and I missed the turn off to the trail at one point, and walked about half a mile in the wrong direction.  Everything is gorgeous though.  I'm about the least inclined to pick up a camera of anyone I know, and I struggle to not take out my camera every few minutes.  So many brilliantly colored flowers, and views off the sides of ridges and into canyons.  My original goal had been to try and do 18 miles today, but with my leg I knew it wouldn't be easy.  However, the ten miles from where I stopped and ate lunch were not bad at all.  Very craggy hills, and I was singing and happy.  A giant rattlesnake was in the shadow off the path, and I really nearly stepped on him!  It spooked me a lot more than any other snake has.  He was so big!  And mad at me!  I basically had to scale the rock wall alongside the trail, grasping at spikey bushes, to avoid him cause he wasn't moving.  Around 5:30 I cam to Highway 78, Scissors Crossing, and my goal of 18 miles!  I have been hiking around a group of three women and a guy who have been pretty exceptionally nice to me.  Sweep, the man, has been making sure I'm doing okay, and he calls me "kid", which I've always liked.  He has hiked the trail at least once before, and his hiking partner is someone he met on the trail last year.  Now they are hiking again with her two daughters, and Sweep's wife is "angel-ing" them along the way.  By "angel-ing" I mean, bringing them food and supplies and generally supporting their hike.  She was at the trailhead in her truck with coolers full of soda, gatorade and beer inviting everyone who hiked past to help themselves.  Ice cold gatorade was amazing right then, and I was in a very good mood.  I couldn't see Yotam or Nadav, so I started to wander around to see if there was a good place to camp.  A bad fire had recently swept through right at the trailhead there, so camping prospects looked pretty limited.  Sweep came over to ask my plans and invite me to catch a ride with him and his wife to a campground about 4 miles down the road.  With a promise of showers and a meal with avocados I was more than sold.  So that was all a huge treat.  I showered, and when I got out the shower a giant spread of salad was laid out with avocado and spinach and mushrooms and chicken and all kinds of cheeses and dressings, and cookies and beer and even though I have mostly been fantasizing about popsicles, I don't think anything could have been better.  It was a later night than I have been used to, but cleaner and fuller than I have been all week, I'm fine curling up closer to 9 than 8.

Georgia