April 26

Mile 77.1 to 86.6

9.5 miles hiked.

We woke up in town and lazed around, taking baths and eating fruit and vegetables until it was checkout time. The weather was still crummy- 40s with rain and mist. At 11 we headed down to the local brewery/pizza shop/BBQ shop.

I ordered a 16 inch pizza and couldn’t even eat half of it. Like my fitness level, My appetite has not yet caught up to the demands of the trail. I purposefully gained 10 pounds prior to hiking, knowing that I lose a concerning amount of weight while doing these hikes. I have felt every one of those pounds while climbing hills with my pack on in the heat. This was all much easier when I was in my mid 20s. Or, I am just forgetting all my previous suffering.

The pizza shop has zip locks available, so I carried out half a pizza from town.

We have seen a few folks in town whom we had previously passed, and it was good to reconnect. There are a lot of interesting folks that get drawn to this sort of endeavor. I met one young man out here who is carrying at least 8 pounds of workout gear. Maybe more. He had wooden gymnastic rings that he attached to a whole trx strap system so he could attach the straps to a tree and do body weight exercises. He was also carrying a set of resistance bands. He is a very nice guy, and I admire the dedication to fitness. One thing folks rarely say out here, is that you do not get enough exercise while hiking the trail. You are exerting yourself for 8-12 hours per day. I will be curious to see if he manages to carry that load the entire way.

We get back on trail at 2 pm and begin our climb in the San Felipe hills- supercharged by pizza and fresh food from our town stop. We are amazed by the flowering cactus. This one looks like a huge asparagus-

We carry 3 L of water out and have 14 miles to go to a water cache supplied by generous locals. We climb 1500 feet and it is cool enough out that we don’t even break a sweat.

By 6pm we are chased into an early camp by storm clouds building overhead. We find a less windy spot in an otherwise very exposed area and begrudgingly call it a day to avoid getting stuck in a bad position.