The trail continues to be very unexciting, albeit now with longer waterless stretches!
I woke up at 6:30 feeling very groggy and slow moving. While I was getting myself going, my left quad started cramping up. My body clearly had no more interest in getting going than I did. But I finally started walking at 8 or so.
The trail was more road, then a climb over the top of the hill to another old road on the other side. Halfway down this second road, I reached the first water of the day and stopped for about an hour doing many things including filtering water and being scatterbrained before continuing down to the highway.
I walked along the highway for a quarter mile or so, then took another dirt road up the hill alongside a creek. I saw that there would be no more water for a while after this creek, so I stopped again and topped off. Another mile or so up the hill, I stopped under a tree for lunch.
The whole morning it had been hazy and cloudy and cool with sun only occasionally, but I noticed a big storm cloud slowly rolling in when I sat down to eat my lunch. The occasional water drop was falling, so I figured it was one of those quick scattered t-storms passing over. I pulled out my Packa and made a little mini-tent between me and my pack so I could keep my food prep area dry. But before I finished eating lunch, the rain and wind started getting much more intense, blowing my Packa hard against me and trying to tear it away while soaking my exposed back. I ended up packing up as quickly as possible, putting the Packa on the pack, and getting dressed for rain to walk on in. But I was pretty well soaked through before I was dressed.
The rain continued on for another hour or so, even as the trail finally left the road and continued as a single track along ridge of the hills. It got less heavy over time, but even after the rain stopped, I kept the Packa zipped up to trap some warmth against the wind.
Eventually, the sun came out again, so I sat down on a log in the sun to dry out and packed up the Packa. I had a late afternoon snack then kept walking. As I walked, my clothes dried out except for my socks.
About supper time, I reached a campsite next to a little creek that seemed perfect for cooking, but the moment I stopped, mosquitos started landing on me. I got the impression from the darkening sky that it would not be long before it was raining again, so I decided to just walk until it started raining, then make camp and cook supper while in my tent.
It started raining about 7, less than a mile later, and like the last time I tried this, I was on a hill with a lot of rocks around. This time, though, I was able to go down in the trees and find a relatively flat spot with no rocks. I had to brush away a lot of twigs with my hands, but I was able to get the tent up and get myself and my pack inside out before literally everything got soaked.
This despite the fact that the soft ground refused to hold at least one stake forcing me to track down a rock to hold it down, and in pulling the tent out to shape to better keep the rain out once I had climbed inside with my pack and removed my shoes, another stake came out forcing me to do gymnastics to reinsert it from within the tent. Also, while the tent was not pulled tight, a corner containing my jacket poked out getting part of it wet.
But with all those crises averted, I had everything out to cook… and the rain stopped and the sun came out. Not that I regretted stopping. By the time I finished eating, it was time to be in camp anyway.
Sleep came with hopes for less rain and better views the next day.
Trail miles: 15.8
Distance to Monarch: 35.1 miles
