Day 4- Under the Bridge

Last night's open was a very windy place.  I didn't sleep much-the tent made way too much noise to sleep.  I don't think anyone sleep much.  The lack of sleep didn't seem to effect my day though.

The first 9 miles to water went pretty quick.  I thought that part of the desert was beautiful.  I didn't expect so many wild flowers.  The hills smelled of flowers.  The cacti are in bloom-they might be my new favorite flower.

The morning was thick cloud cover.  I've never been so happy to have a cloudy day before.  On the AT clouds usually meant rain, out here it means cool hiking weather.

The cloud cover did break up around 1 p.m. and I could just feel it start to scorch me. 

PCT Mile 68

The trail seems so much more friendly when it's cloudy out.  I took more pictures, I even seemed to hike faster, my feet didn't hurt as much.  The sky clouded over again around 4 as I descended into the valley with Tommy.  There were storm clouds gathering behind us.  For a few days people have been talking about the storm we were going to get.  We decided to make for a bridge at mile 77 to have shelter.  On the way we met one of the water angels restocking the water cashes that are put out for hikers.  While talking to him two other hikers, Scarecrow and Sara, hiked up.  The water angel recommended staying under the bridge tonight.

Trail under the hot sun

I've been here since 4:30 and really wished I had hiked on 4 more miles as I had planned for the day.  It is windy and dusty here-really kind of gross, but there is water.  My feet and my body like the early quitting time, but it's boring to sit around on a nice late afternoon.  So far there are 9 people calling the bridge area home for the night.  It's still early, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are more.

(I wrote a post for Day 3, but my phone ate it.)