Day 4 – Thursday 7/16/2020 – 1319.7 – clear skies, sunny, hot, dry. I woke too early and tried to go back to sleep. I got up at 4:25 am and was on the trail at about 4:55 am. I had a pop tart along with some MIO and vitamin I (AKA Advil or Ibuprofen) for breakfast. The pop tart is quicker and easier that Raisin Bran. I like being energized with MIO and I did the first 6 miles in two hours. I am still on a dual track road. There are rolling ups and downs. It’s getting hotter and the sun is blazing. I finally took out my umbrella which allowed me to take off my hat. There was a cool breeze – it felt great. At mile 1313 I came across a northbound thru-hiker. We stopped and chatted. His trail name is Ginger Balls. He said the next three waters were icky but the best one he’s found is after that. I’ll get to it tomorrow because it’s too far for me today. I got to my goal at 12:15 pm. That’s quite good, but quite early in the day. My lunch was tasty especially the apple and cheddar cheese along with a 1/4 ham slice. I set up my tent and I am hanging out in it. The wind is gusting. The sun makes the tent like a sauna. So I have the umbrella open inside my tent to shade me and make me be cooler. I’m sweating regardless. Dinner of potato cheddar soup was so-so. I won’t buy that one again. While in my tent I did my daily chores. Now I’m waiting for it to cool down before I try to sleep.
Author: admin
Daily Log: Day 3
Meetup: Day 3 – Wednesday 7/15/2020 – 1300.3 – sunny, hot. I got up at 4:36 am and was on trail by 5:23 am. I’m finding that eating Raisin Bran isn’t good right now. I seem to be choking it down. So I’m switching to pop tarts next. I only have 9 miles. It should only take me to 9 am to get there. The trail was a double track road. It isn’t exciting but so much easier than cross country point to point across brush & sage. Along the way I passed more markers for the California Trail and its Seminoe Cutoff and the Oregon Trail. Near the end was a CDT paddock with two cases of water and a register. I sat a few minutes and wrote in it. The previous entry was NOBO on 7/11, four days ago. Immediately after leaving I noticed a stick or something in the distance silhouetted on a hill. My next glance showed it had moved to the right. Then my next glance it was gone from the top and appeared to be moving down. I was less than a mile from our meetup and it was Justin coming to meet me. Sweet! We walked back to the Jeep together talking about our adventures for the past three days. The rest of the day was resting, eating, cleaning, and prepping for the next section. He offered to cook breakfast but I wanted to leave early so instead he cooked sausage, scrambled eggs with cheese in a bun for lunch. Yummy! The afternoon included a short drive to a hilltop where we got cell reception. I was able to post a bunch of pictures to my CDT blog. Because hiker hunger hasn’t struck me he made small burgers with chips for dinner. Now it’s time for cowboy camping again beside his Jeep. I’m in my warmer sleeping bag tonight. There are cows about but generally they stay away. Tomorrow I’m going to try pushing it a bit to cut the distance to the meetup from 2.4 days to just 2. It’ll be my first MIO and Advil (ibuprofen) day. Good night all.
Great cook
Justin is a great cook.
He bought burgers for dinner and sausage & eggs for breakfast. However because I get up so early we had sausage on scrambled eggs with cheese on toasted rolls for dinner. My oh my it was tasty!
Desolate high plains
Dry, treeless, and desolate high plains. Together we drove to a high-point where we got cellphone service.
A panoramic picture as we sit and call family, send text messages, read email, and post on this blog.
First Meetup
After three days in the wilderness Justin and I found each other in the wilderness as planned. As I was hiking I saw something high on a hill far away. Initially I wondered if it was a stick or marker but the next time I looked it had moved. It was a person. And then as I got closer I saw it was him. I was so relieved! It was early in the morning and he had come down the trail to find me. We hiked back to the Jeep and I collapsed into a chair, and he got me a Coca Cola, yum!
All is well. I got water, food, a shower, laundry, and especially human company – all of it somewhere in the wilderness. Now he’s driven to where we’ve got cell signal. This is luxury hiking at its finest.
No one
In the past three days I’ve met no one. As I hike I watch the trail ahead and I see other footprints in the sand. They look old and nothing like my own print which is precise and defined. No one has been here in days.
Daily Log: Day 2
Day 2 – Tuesday 7/14/2020 – 1291.3 – woke at 4:30 am and hiking at 5:15 am. I was a long way from the trail, but surprisingly it didn’t take long to get back on it. The first bit was point to point over chaparral but then I got on a dirt road which is so much easier. I passed by Oregon and California trail markers. At 1 pm I stopped for lunch at Weasel Spring and I should have stopped for the day but there were no good camping spots. So I went on and finally tented on a grassy flat with cows. They weren’t happy and moved off. I’m hiking on the high plains 8700’. There are no trees. The morning starts out calm but as the day progresses the wind gusts from 5-15 mph. My little tent is not good in wind. With no trees there are no wind breaks. Nor are there any flat open areas. Everywhere is sandy soil and low to the ground bushes. The soil is very compact and hard to push in tent stakes. Today I had to use a rock as a tent stake hammer.
Dry historic trail
At various points you have to cross from one person’s land to another’s. To do that you need to open gates and close them after you’re through. Here is one where I just crossed through, turned around and saw these distant snow covered mountains along with the brilliant morning sun.
I’ve been hiking part of the historic Oregon and California trails. I think about all those people whose only means to get there was to come by wagon train and walking through this inhospitable high desert (elevation 8700 feet). I now truly understand viscerally what that journey was like.
Daily Log: Day 1
Start: Day 1 – Monday 7/13/2020 – ended at mile 1271.0. I woke at first light around 4:30 am, packed up, ate Raisin Bran for breakfast, and headed out at 5:18 am. The morning was cool and partially cloudy. Cheerfully I marched along. I consulted my Guthook app regularly to stay on the trail. The sun came out on my right and I said my normal “Good morning Sun”. After about 2 hours I had done 5 miles. I was movin’! So I looked at my mileage and it said I was at mile 1253 and had done 4.9 miles. Suddenly at that moment I realized that I had hiked NORTH and I should have been going south. OMG! I immediately sent a satellite message to Justin [“You won’t believe what I did, I WENT NORTH OMG, I’m 5 miles in and heading back.” Jul 13, 2020 8:04 AM]. I turned around and started speed hiking back the way I came. I kept thinking of all our plans for the next 3 days we’re kaput. Finally I could see the tiny Jeep in the distance. I worried he’d drive off before I got back to the Jeep. Made it. Justin was still there. I told him my terrible goof. I got some water and headed off now in the right direction. I was nearly running to make up the lost miles and time. By 11 I had hiked the number of miles I had planned, but there was no where to stop. I needed water and the next one was way off trail and 6 miles away. So on I trudged. I got there but I was exhausted and the water was littered with cow dung – ugh – not great. Nevertheless I put up my tent. The wind is rattling it. I hope tomorrow is less stressful.
Wrong way Joe
Well I got up early and headed out, but I didn’t do my homework and hiked north about 5 miles when I should have hiked south.
Call me wrong way Joe!
