5/10/17

Day 17
Miles: 235 to 256
Today was a good day to make big miles. For several different reasons.

The morning was cool and it made for a pleasant walk. We could see the mist hovering above the stream we camped by, it was very nice. Even when the sun got out, it remained on a cooler side and occasionally wind blew that was rather cold. So for a change we did not need to find shade for our breaks, but rather we seeked a sunny spot.

The terrain was rather unchallenging. After the initial three or four hundred feet of elevation gained on a steeper grade, the trail meandered up and down very gently and we did not have a problem to keep the pace up even on the uphill sections.

Last reason was that the area we walked through today was in contrast with last few days somewhat monotonous. We saw a burned forest, and forest of pines, and even though they were nice to walk through, especially when the birds were chirping, I was not compelled to stop often to take pictures or make notes.

Among the interesting things we saw today would top the private Zoo right next to the trail where retired movie animals live. We only saw one big bear, but rumor has it they have tigers and other animals as well.

Another curiosity came at mile 252 in a form of a couch sitting by the trail. Next to it was a big metal box and when we opened it, we found sodas. 

This was where we planned to camp but after the sugar boost from the beverage, we decided to push 3 downhill miles to more established camping area.

Quite a few hikers chose this place, strategically located just 10 miles from Hwy 18 which will take us to our next town tomorrow, and we cooked and socialized around a fire for a while before everybody uniformly crawled in their tents at 8:00 pm.