Day 23: mile 285.9-307.8
Up and at ‘em! On the trail by 7 am to make it 22 miles to the hot springs early enough to enjoy a few hours of sunshine!
Another easy start to the day. The only struggle I was having was with my pants. The issue is my shirt is too short to cover my pants, so unless I wear my high waisted shorts I have a sweet little belly shirt and my pack rubs my hips. I had to pull over and put my shorts on. These are my problems people! 🤣
Okay, now the day can continue. Holy clouds! They were awesome today. As usual my photos do no justice, so you’ll have to take my word. 😉
I crossed the water a few times, found a giant pine cone, and followed the “yellow brick road”. At least that’s what it reminded me of. I had an obsession with The Wizard of Oz as a kid. 😂
Then I crossed one of the many awesome bridges in the Deep Creek area. So cool!
I also crossed the 300 mile marker, woohoo!
A few less exciting events that followed, sliding down a hill that could’ve gone terribly wrong, finding the leg of a dear, and sweating my everything off in the heat of the day. But who cares, I survived (so did whatever ate that deer I’m guessing), and I was almost to he hot springs! Funny thing is the only thing I wanted to do when I got there was get in the river to cool off. The idea of getting in hot water sounded horrible. 😂
When I arrived I was greeted by some locals who were super nice and welcomed me to the party. And it was a party. It’s a Friday, so it seemed like a few people started the weekend early.
There was a clear difference between hikers and non-hikers, or shall I say the clothed and non-clothed. After the conversation centered around how uncomfortable the majority of hikers were with all the naked bodies around them, I decided to bathe and do my laundry down the river a bit. Who knew hikers were such a shy bunch. 😂
Myself and a handful of other hikers decided to stay the night down here. So excited to sleep in such a warm location, and in the soft sand too! There is talk about staying all day tomorrow, which sounds awesome, but after my little vacation in Big Bear I shouldn’t. Who knows, I guess we’ll see…
Goodnight!
XOXO Becks