Saturday, July 12, 2014

Day 92 - Little Haven to Cold Springs

After a nice night on the floor of the Little Haven, I got up for some fresh cut watermelon that Andrea has cut for us. A short while later Stumbles took the initiative, and started making pancakes for everyone, using a pancake mix that was in the hiker's kitchen. Everyone were thankful and well fed.
Andrea started shuttling hikers to the trail as soon as the trunk of her car was full. We got out to the trail at 8:00, and headed out. It took us about half an hour, and probably over a 1000 feet climb, to realize we were not on the pct. My bad. I told Idan we should follow some trail from the parking area, but there was no pct marking, and I didn't check the map. After another half hour, we finally got back down to start again, this time getting on the right trail.
The first section of the trail, right up to the second water source, was not so bad. But then the climb started. We knew it's going to be a really long and hard one, this time.
Banana Boat passed us, and said something about doing a 30 miler day today. We wished her luck. We were only doing 18 today. With that long climb, and the hot weather, it seems enough.
The good thing about the climb, was the abundance of water sources. We never needed to carry more than 1 liter of water, with good streams and springs every mile or two.
After about two hours, while hiking in tall grass that hid the trail, I stumbled upon Idan, sitting on the trail, under the grass. At first I thought he was just resting in the only available shade. But it turned it he had a nasty fall, and twisted his ankle. It sounded pretty bad, and we hiked together for the next water source, where he dipped his foot in ice cold water for a while. He was in pain for the rest of the day, but he still hiked quickly.
After crossing Chips Creek twice, the climb went a bit easier, and even resembled a normal trail. We still had some up hill to do, but it wasn't so bad anymore. We filled some water 4.5 miles before the end, and headed out for the last section of the day. It went by fast, and we got to camp just before 19:00.
The spring here at Cold Spring flows strong, and is just by the tent sites. We had a good and filling dinner, and then Hop Scotch came along. We sat and talked for a while, before retiring to sleep.
Tomorrow we will try to get up an hour earlier. We hope to do a long day of 27 miles into Chester. But maybe we will stop before we get to the highway... We will see.

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