Sunday, May 3, 2015

Day 18 - McDonald's & a little rest

Sunday, May 3

This is a special day today because it is my wife's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Valorie!

For those of you who don't know, Valorie is my editor and publisher for this blog. Without her, I don't think I could manage.

The problem with blogging from the trail is that I can't see the actual photo sizes. Everything looks great on my little phone, but they would look awful on another device. I send her my draft and she fixes the photos and checks my spelling & grammar. I think she is doing a wonderful job!



It looked to be a full moon last night. The "down side" was that I couldn't see the stars until the moon set in the early hours of the morning. And since I was camped in a little ravine, it got really cold by morning.

It took me less than 1/2 hour to pack up and I hit the trail by 5:45.
It is always awesome to see the sun coming up over the mountains.


The grass-lined trail was especially pretty in the morning light.


The trail climbed over a few low hills and continued through the green desert. After a couple of hours of hiking I came to this sign telling about the endangered Mountain Yellow-Legged frogs in this area. Later on, I will have to detour around an area where the frogs live.


Once the sun was overhead, I came around a corner to see this snake on the trail. I had to prod it with my trekking pole before it slithered away.


By 10 AM I reached interstate highway 15. This sign reminded me that I only have 2,296 more miles to go.


Interstate highway 15 is significant to hikers on this trail because there is a McDonald's restaurant less than 1/2 mile up the road. There's even a sign to remind us!


I got there just in time to order a deluxe breakfast.

One problem I noticed today while hiking is that my blister has begun to hurt again. In addition, the next 25 miles of trail have no reliable sources for water. That means that I will have to carry about 5 liters of water (10 pounds) and I was worried about hiking the steep trail in the hot sun.

So, to give myself some time to rest, I decided to take the rest of the day off and got a room at the Best Western hotel.


I did my laundry, showered, and got everything ready for a very early start tomorrow morning.

Funny thing, "Rasputin" is staying here too, as is "Marathon John".

I am currently at PCT mile 341.8.

3 comments:

  1. Thank you, thank you! Really no work required on this blog beyond adding tags. All the photos were already small. I hope a half-day was enough to heal that blister though. Best of luck tomorrow, Bob. I love you. <3

    ReplyDelete
  2. Marsha Edwards GoodwinMay 4, 2015 at 9:14 PM

    Happy birthday Valorie! In honor of you, it was a lovely day today!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Try tha app BlogTouchPro for Blogger. Much better than the Blogger app or the BlogPress app.
    -GoalTech

    ReplyDelete