Another one of those days where I just couldn’t get started. Late wake up, slow pack up, groggy. I think it was after 9, probably close to 10, by the time I was hiking.
The trail started out easy enough until I came around the top of Red Tahquitz and onto the sharp side of the ridge.
I didn’t get up as early as I would have liked given all that I needed to get done. I always get to bed late my first (and usually only) night in town, so I set an alarm. But I was so groggy and dried out when it went off, it took me most of an hour just to get going. Nonetheless, I had a sizeable stack of pancakes made by shortly after 8am, when the laundromat opened, and was able to gather up the clothes that needed washing and get to the laundromat to get the first load in the washer by 9.
It turned out the flapping of the tent was because the stake behind my head had come out of the ground—it was loose rocky soil, and the rock I put on the ropes wasn’t heavy enough to resist the wind. But it was enough to keep the tent from collapsing at least.
Thursday, November 26, 2020, a totally non-special day just like any other day. A day for solitude, not for family gatherings. A day for eating the same things you’ve been eating every other day. But most importantly, a day for getting up early and seeing the sun rise!
I probably could have gotten going earlier this morning. It was pretty cold. I was going back and forth to the river, filtering water at the same time as packing. It was probably after 8:30 by the time I started walking for real.
Although the cold winds were still blowing in the morning, making it hard to get going and packed up, I still managed to get hiking by 9 and it was nice enough once I got into the warmth of the sun.
The first few miles were the same kind of hiking as the previous day: wide open walking on the sides of ridges. Vistas for miles and interesting things to see near the trail. But after 6 miles, I entered the top of Mission Creek canyon.
The cold wind made it hard to get up in the morning and hard to do anything in the way of packing up and filtering water. Even with a coat on, I was trying my best to avoid the shade. As such, in spite of my best intentions, I didn’t make it onto the trail until 9:30.
Despite my late night, I still managed to at least get up at an early enough hour that I thought I could get to the trail by noon. I cut the oversize plastic covers off the aglets of my new laces, installed them on my boots, tied the excess lace around my ankles, and went out for some breakfast.
For various reasons, it was around 10am by the time I started hiking. The trail was just a slow climb up the side of Delamar Mountain. I stopped for a snack at Delamar Mountain Rd, where a truck was parked and people were coming by looking for the trail.
Although I got a good early start on getting up and was happy to see my shorts were dry, after collecting and filtering water and filming a long video documenting the hot springs and packing up, it was 9am before I started hiking.