Day 7
Start: Stagecoach campground
Finish: San Felipe Hills
Daily Mileage: 16.1
Trip Mileage: 92.4
I’m still trying to pace myself to get my body used to the trail, so I’m targeting about 15 miles per day now. With there being more than 12 hours of sun and the trail being so gentle, it is a challenge for me to go slow enough without arriving at camp way too early.
With that said, I packed up and left Hard Start still napping as I headed out to the road around 8. There was little traffic this morning, so a few of us started walking towards the trail. After almost a mile, we hopped in the bed of a pickup which saved some time.
The trail resumed in low desert with many cactus and wildflowers like there have not been at elevation. Even some of the cactus are flowering and leafing out to get on the spring bandwagon. Unfortunately, the trail started a long slow climb and left many of the cactus quickly behind.
There was a mass exodus of hikers this morning, with all of us emerging from our protective shell of town where we weathered the rain and snow of the past couple days. As the trail slowly switchbacked upwards, you could see strings of hikers winding their way along the trail. It looked like a lot, but there were few groups I actually encountered throughout the day. Since the terrain is open, you can just see more people.
The trail wrapped its way around and up a series of hills, and generally paralleled a highway below for the entire day. It stayed mellow as always, but today was more about the people for me.
I’m meeting more hikers on the trail, and bumping back into others I have met before. I am drawn most to those that I can see struggling, and I’ve been offering words of encouragement from my hiking experience. I leapfrogged with one hiker in particular who has been having foot issues who initially seemed a bit pessimistic and was even talking about not being able to finish the trail in time because he was going too slowly. I gave him some suggestions and told him to just take it one day at a time for now and he will get his hiking legs. We talked a few times today, and he seemed to appreciate it. I also enjoy encouraging other hikers, which is something that is not natural for me in some other aspects of my life. Perhaps if I continue to focus on that for the length of the trail it will spill over.
Though I was carrying food and water out of town and I could feel the extra weight, today was a relatively easy day and I just cruised along looking around and chatting with other hikers. It was all just pleasant, and got me in a good mood.
There was no water on the trail today, even seasonal sources from the rain we just had. There is a water cache towards the end of the day that is a gathering point. I took a break and grabbed water, but there were just too many people around for my liking backpacking, even though I have met many of them at this point. I was also just not really feeling the spot, so I decided to hike on a bit further until the next good campsite I saw.
I found a spot a mile on that was well sheltered and was just big enough for my tent. It was too good to pass up, so I set up. I got my miles in by 4 even with some breaks to kill time. That’s pretty early for me to stop and I’ve done that a few days now. It is challenging since I want to keep hiking, but I need to pace myself. I just now have to fill the time in camp. I’m starting to read which I don’t take time for off the trail. I will camp with people when it works out which can also be good. I’ve also just spent a lot of time reflecting. I haven’t looked at the news or social media at all since I got on the trail and want to slow things down to focus more on what matters. I’m guessing that the world has not yet come to an end. I haven’t even put in my headphones while hiking. We will see how it goes.
