Day 43
Start: Golden Oaks Spring
Finish: Robin Bird Spring
Daily Mileage: 19.9
PCT Mile: 603.2
It got really windy last night but I was protected for the most part by the trees around me. The wind was swirling around though and I would get an occasional blast from different directions. The wind turbines right above us loved it though and hummed away all night.
We set out early and it was cold and windy. I had to wear my windshirt for most of the morning, and I regretted packing away my gloves. We hiked along the ridge we had been following through yet another wind farm. As we walked past a couple of the turbines, they were turned on with the increasing power demand of the morning. The blades are parallel to the wind with the turbines off, but the blades are turned into position to rotate when needed. I hadn’t before realized that the blades can rotate to change their pitch.
I noticed a gray tent hiding next to the trail under a log. I opened it up to look at it, and it was the same brand and material as Lanyard’s tent. She was ahead of us, so I decided to pick up the tent and carry it in case it was hers and she somehow dropped it. It is not uncommon to see lost gear along the trail. It is hard to know what to do with it. Unless you catch someone quickly up ahead of you, you may have become the owner of the gear and not know what to do with it. So, do you pick it up or walk past it?
When I caught up with Lanyard a few miles later, she had realized she was missing her tent and was trying to figure out what to do. The tent was hers, and I was the last person to pass it, so it was good that I picked it up. A missing tent would be a pretty bad thing out here. You could cowboy camp for a while, but you would need it for the Sierra.
I took off ahead of the others towards the end of the day. I wanted to stretch my legs and pound out some miles. I can hike faster than some hikers, so I tend to follow when I’m in groups. I do need to go my own pace at times though.
When I set out ahead, the mountains did change for the better though. The land beside me dropped away giving better mountain views, and the trail got into more forested areas which I like more out here.
The trail briefly went down a little used private road with an interesting mix of no trespassing and love Jesus signs. Then it was the last brief climb before hitting a spring.
All of the same group are camped at Robin Bird Spring tonight, Manny, Lanyard, Lou, Cookie Monster, and I. We didn’t see anyone else today, so we must be between bubbles. We camped at the last water source, and this was the only water source for today, 20 miles down the trail, so it was an obvious stopping point.
Most of today was pretty boring to me. The wind farms are getting old. Cookie Monster suggested that he was done with the desert and was ready for a change in scenery. Perhaps that’s what I need. We’re 600 miles into the desert, and we keep seeing the same types of features or highlights. I even stopped taking pictures of the flowers for the most part. We are only 100 miles from the official start of the Sierra, so perhaps that is just in time.
