4/25/12 past Trail Angel Mike’s, mile 128, 19.0 miles hiked

Packing gear (Lake Morena). Obviously a well-organized
packer! I don't know, this looks like way more than 30 lbs.
Hmmm, wonder what to leave behind?? (Just kidding!)

Before leaving home, I mailed a re-supply box to Warm Springs, as the guidebook said that the resort there had closed. So this morning I found the post office in Warm Springs, re-supplied my pack, and got out at 9:00 a.m.

I thought I’d take a short cut back to the PCT, but it didn’t work out so well. Ended up cutting through a golf course, climbing fences, skirting beehives, crossing a private campground, and wading a brush-choked creek before finally regaining the PCT.

One day's worth of food for a no-cook thru-hiker.

Very soon after returning to the well-marked, easily-followed track, (as opposed to beating the bushes through a non-existent shortcut), I decided to go ahead and eat one of the treats I had mailed in my resupply box. A shady creek called Agua Calliente was the perfect place to rest and consume a 16 ounce salami with Ritz crackers. Lightened my pack a bit, too!

I hiked through beige boulders, blooming white and purple ceonothus, oaks, and Coulter pines with huge cones. A snake lay across the trail, torpid in the cool temperatures. I nudged him with my pole and he just stuck his tongue out at me. There were also many large black lizards.

My right foot developed an ache across the top of the arch. Finally used duct tape to reinforce the bottom of the insole arch, and that fixed it.

Black-crowned Night Heron. Two Herons guarded their
territory from the ravens. These don't get their black crowns
their 3rd year, so this one was 1-2 years old.

Wind, fog, steep terrain became my companions as evening progressed. I finally pitched my tent on a tiny flat spot. I pitched the small, foot end of the tent into the wind, making it aerodynamic. This gave me the choice of sleeping with my head on the downhill slope, or cramming my head and shoulders into the foot end of the tent to sleep with head uphill. I chose uphill.