Hiking With Gadget Girl
It's All About The Adventure!
Distance: 13.58
Start elevation: 6,118
End elevation: 7,709
Alarms went off at 5am so we could get an early start. That went by the wayside when we discovered how wet the tents were. Took a few minutes to wipe down the rain flys and netting. Our projected 6am start was delayed until 7am.
There was no water in section 2 until ten miles in where there was a fire station where they graciously let hikers use their faucet outside.
Most of trail to this point was treeless and the sun beat down on us. I used my umbrella most of the day to keep the sun off me. We took frequent breaks to drink water and electrolytes. After we loaded up with water at the fire station, our packs felt heavy once more and we were both starting to drag from the heat and sun. We were so happy that the trail was easy with just little ups and downs. It is a beautiful trail, very little dust, and it seems the trail is designed for mountain bikers.
There were rock formations that looked like giants stacked on top of each other. The rocks here are mostly round.
We ended segment 2 about 1.5 miles from the fire station and now we are in segment 3. We were carrying a little extra water in case we ended up dry camping, but at mile marker 31.1, there was a tiny stream and enough room to set up two tents. The clouds had gathered during the day and we were expecting more thunderstorms this evening but it ended up a dry night. There seems to be a lot more mountain bikers in segment 3. We did pass a large campground and am assuming that the mountain bikers are camped there. As we were drifting off to sleep, a group of gals rode past singing Happy Birthday to one of their friends. Then they discovered the tents and yelled out, "Hi hikers!". We didn't respond so they continued on their way and shouted back to us, "Have a great hike!"
Note: If you are interested in seeing more pictures of this day, click here.