Saturday, April 5, 2014

Hauser Canyon

Today was a perfect hiking day. Chilly in the morning with frost on the plants at the border turning to a pleasantly warm day with high clouds to temper the sun. There were flowers in the beginning stages of blooming and a bit of green grass springing up because of the recent rains. All in all, a perfect hiking day. 

Which is not to say that there weren't difficult parts to the day. The first hard thing was saying goodbye to Angela at mile marker 1. She and Chris walked with us for the first mile and the goodbye was tearful. It is hard leaving a perfectly wonderful life to make this adventure happen. I only hope everything at home is ok in my absence. 

The second hard thing was the 15.4 mile hike to get to this place. What can I say? It's up and down, over hill and dale and it took us from 8 am to 4:30 pm. This included many breaks of course and we took it easy but there's no getting around the fact that I was dang tired and footsore by the time we pulled in here. I'm sure this will abate once I get a bit more used to the rigors of the trail. 

Tomorrow we walk another 15 miles!


Thursday, April 3, 2014

T-minus 11 hours

Ok then. Tomorrow I'm off.  My friends will be dropping me off at the border at 7ish am. I'll meet the other gals about the same time and we'll begin the long trek north. Here we are, relaxing in the Laguna Mountain Lodge, hanging and yucking it up. More to come. 


Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Down south

Here I am visiting family and it's been raining in some places but snowing in the mountains. I dropped off our Idyllwild resupply boxes yesterday with my old friend Stacey and all I need to do now is finalize which pack I'm taking. I know, it's a bit late isn't it? Well I'm stuck on super lightweight and an old comfortable friend I have confidence in. Do you toss out old friends just because you meet someone new and exciting? I thought not. I guess I don't really have to finally decide till Thursday night. Friday will dawn and a pack will have been chosen.

I think I'm getting pretty nervous. I must say though that I am way more calm than the last attempt in 2012. Possibly since I've been here before and was successful with this portion of the trail. That's part of it I'm sure. Maybe more importantly, I'm beginning the hike with two others and just that seems to feel better somehow. I haven't introduced them yet but they are Diane aka Tidy Camper and Caroline aka Dirty Girl. I've known them for years in Santa Cruz but this is the first time we've attempted backpacking together. Nothing like jumping in with both feet, eh? I will post pictures of them at the border after we begin on Friday.

I checked out my Spot device today and it seems to be working well. At the end of every day I'll try to find a clear-of-trees spot and push the OK button. If all goes well, and you click on the Where Is Shelly tab, you should be able to see my location. Crazy huh? If for some reason there doesn't seem to be motion, I'm probably just parked somewhere with my feet up for a day or two. Not to worry.  And sometimes the device just doesn't work perfectly so I have to factor this into the trip and let people know ahead of time that it might be spotty.

Ok that's it for today. If I don't get to post tomorrow then I'll update folks on Friday. Happy trails!