We were lulled to sleep by frogs and woken up by a wide variety of birds. The most obnoxious of which were some roosters crowing before sunrise. I was not the least bit sad when we passed a partially eaten rooster on the trail later in the morning. It seemed like there was a murder of crows and a flock of turkeys competing for morning honors, though. It was too cold for me to stick my head out of the tent, but there had to be well over a dozen turkeys between our tent and Jeff’s.
I usually mention porcelain as one of the losses I feel the most. I’m not a hole digger by nature. Lake Mareno had the next best option to porcelain. No, not a pit latrine—stainless steel. It’s greatest fault is it takes way too much body heat to warm the seat, but it does have a streakless advantage. It felt so nice that Bunny and I both pulled a Sassy double barrel.
We continued to increase our mileage output today reaching 12 while still having a relaxing start at just after 8:30 and finishing comfortably by 5. We had several stops along the way including an extended rest break around 3 to prepare our breakfast for tomorrow and cook our supper for later. The meal preparations were necessary because we were headed to another dry camp for the night.
We only encountered one new thru-hiker today. We met Danimal at our first stream crossing. We were feeling good that we already had 4.2 miles under our feet when Danimal stopped to talk to us. This is his second day on the trail and he already had almost 13 in so far today. He’s set a goal to complete this 700 mile section in a little over a month. Now the sad news, he’s retired and older than us. I think it’s safe to consider him a “red-shirted crew member” as we’ll never see him again. He was shooting for 30 miles today.
I did see a sign outside of the stainless steel adorned bathroom at Lake Mareno. It said that the mountain lion population in California’s has increased from a low of just 70 to between 4000 and 6000 today. I am very happy that Bunny is seeing so many rabbits on the trail. I’m hoping that rabbit is the preferred food source. Just to be safe, I am keeping a watchful eye on MY Bunny.
It was a beautiful, cloudless day. The temperature topped out above 75 deg F today. I honestly don’t see why anyone would want to hike this section any time after mid-April. Even by early April, I’m sure this would be way too hot for me. As it is, I’m about ready to break out the umbrella to get a break from the sun. If it gets much hotter, there will be another chrome dome on the trail.
Bunny did a little research and she’s leaning toward continuing straight on through the Sierras rather than flipping up to the Oregon border. My biggest fear is swollen river crossings from heavy snow melt. If we continue on before the snow melts, we only have to deal with the cold. We could get some snowshoes in Kennedy Meadows and keep going if: 1) someone has already broken trail, and 2) we can find some other people willing to go with us. I wouldn’t feel safe with a group smaller than 4. We have plenty of time to decide.
I can notice a few advantages that the AT has over the PCT (since I was praising the PCT so much yesterday). The shelters on the AT are great. They almost all have reliable water sources, latrines, and picnic tables. Sitting in the desert can be a little prickly. Since Bunny was dealing with diabetics for decades at work, I adopted a saying (that I stole from George Carlin)—“It’s ok to prick your finger, but never finger your prick.” It’s strange how the mind wonders in the desert.
When we got to camp, Bucky was waiting. He was already set up. We immediately set up our tent and then ate our hot supper. Bucky has leftover pizza from last night. I felt sure that our hot ramen with lentils, beans, spinach, and chicken was better for us, but, he had pizza. It’s only been 3 days (one of which we had pizza) and I’m craving junk.
We are still on for renting a room in Mt Laguna tomorrow night. That means we only have around 9 1/2 miles to go. The desert is funny. It really magnifies the sun. When it’s out, it feels blistering. When it’s gone, it immediately gets cold. We’re camping next to a huge patch of snow tonight and there’s no water around. I’m too lazy to melt the snow but it doesn’t matter. We carried enough extra water with us that we can still have coffee for breakfast. Priorities!
EFG