Saw two more rattlesnakes (one a baby) and heard a third today. It’s full eyes and ears open season now; no more walking with both earbuds in.
Another good 16 mile day in the books. That kind of seems to be my sweet spot right now, 16-18. I’ll want to speed up further down the road to finish on time/before the snow but that feels like a solid baseline from which to build. Planning to do about the same tomorrow with a siesta/lunch stop at Paradise Valley Cafe for a burger, then the next day get set up right outside idyllwild. Then hit a resupply in idyllwild without staying in town and back on the trail!
Gonna start getting into real altitude soon and then staying high over San Jacinto. Planning to camp tomorrow over 6000 feet, then over 8000 the next night. My lungs have felt really good so far, hoping that stays the case this high up.
Legs have hurt a reasonable amount for the amount of mileage I’m putting them through. 13.2 pounds of water to start today certainly didn’t help. Muscles and joints and such are holding up okay, some occasional protests but nothing lasting. Blisters are getting slightly worse, gonna try to do a better job of basically doing an aggressive rinse of my spare socks each day and letting them dry on my pack. Took all my Leukotape (the sports med tape I’m using on top of blisters to prevent further friction) off tonight and did a full wipe down of my feet with a wet wipe. Hoping the generally improved cleanliness helps keep them down.
One solution I’m thinking of trying is sock liners- basically socks underneath my socks. They can help with sweat evaporation but they also come in varieties that are toe socks – toes are where most of my blisters are right now. I’ll see if they have any in idyllwild. Otherwise, just gonna hope my feet get to callusing up.
Been sleeping a ton – regularly ten hours if not more. I need to get better at getting up early – haven’t really gotten up before 6, though I am up by 7. Want to make sure I get in hours of hiking while it’s still cool, esp with that heat wave maybe coming in. As long as I find a decent spot to siesta in, I can hopefully get those couple hours of sleep I’d lose back.
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