I’m up earlier than Spaceman-not-Spaceman – the dawn is drawing in vibrant colors on the morning sky, and I am morally obligated to visually document how awesome it is. So before packing, before much thought, before much of anything, there is beauty, there is light. Continue reading
I’m up at 3:30 again, floundering around in the darkness for clothes pack stuff to get out. I’m actually awake by the time I’m packed, feeling good and ready to kill it today. 16.6 miles to Hikertown, and I’m trying to make it before the heat of the day sets in. 4am and I’m ready to rock. Continue reading
It’s up at 4:45 today – Sasha left yesterday afternoon, so I’m making something of an effort to catch her, at least before she gets in and out of Tehachapi. Matt has agreed to give Moses a ride out1, and Moses has insisted he’s leaving Casa de Luna with me, so Matt’s agreed to give me a ride, too. The plan is to leave by 5:30 – there’s an 11.3 mile roadwalk around the closure that I want to finish before the heat of the day sets in, and I’m done in enough time to hit the road. Continue reading
My alarm goes off at 5:00 – and I turn it off. I roll over and sleep until 7:30. OH GOD IT’S LATE. But I have nothing to do for most of the day; it’s all just waiting until tonight. I’ll hike out around 6, walk back to the trail, and camp in preparation for the following day. Continue reading
I wake at 5:30 to help with breakfast; Mama T shoos me back to sleep. I wake at 6:30; again, I’m shooed back to bed. So I lounge and I write until I can stay down no more, and I come just in time to eat pancakes and then do dishes. And then the day is my oyster. My relaxing, nothing-to-do-unless-I’m-asked oyster. Continue reading
I’m up at 3:30, take my time about getting packed and I’m still ready to go by 4:05. It’s still super dark, darker than it was when I went to bed, or so it seems, but that’s the fun of pre-dawn “light”, or so I’m told. It’s always darkest before the dawn, or whatnot. Continue reading
I wake early, for just long enough to take a picture of the sunrise – but it’s too early to be up on a nero, so it’s back to sleep for me. However long that lasts with 40 other people camped nearby. Continue reading
The train is my alarm in the morning – the earplugs do nothing to block against its screeching, and while I try to go back to sleep, my alarm is having none of it. Most people are still asleep – a lot of folks are taking a zero at the KOA to use the pool and generally let loose while not under the auspices of a trail angel – but Sasha and I are trying to beat the heat for the last 10 miles into Agua Dulce. So it’s up and filling water bottles and enjoying another trip to the flush toilet before heading out the way I came in and hitting the trail once more. Continue reading
Sasha and I are some of the first ones up; Spaceman, set up near my feet, is gazing blankly up at the sky. Well, it is early, I think. The heat’s going to get rough today – it’s warm out already – so the sooner we get going, the sooner we get to the North Fork Ranger Station, where we’ll take our siesta. Continue reading
I feel marginally better in the morning, but I’m not taking any chances. I take 800mg of ibuprofen – anything else doesn’t even take the edge off – and pray I don’t have any incidents. Soon enough, Sasha and I are off and on our way.
Brown Girl on the NST 