Day 38: McIver’s Spring

Miles hiked: 25.5

Mile marker: 645

I woke up at 11:11 PM, groping for my pack in a panic that mice had gotten ahold of it. I pulled my fleece off and rolled around and around as I tried to go back to sleep.

The stars were exploded in the night sky, a million sparkles glittering the blackness.

My alarm goes off at 4:15 AM.

I am tired.

Oh, well. Time to get moving.

It’s still dark outside. The half moon is providing enough light to get some of my things together.

I have to put my shoe on three times because I feel something poking me. It’s exactly 5:00 when I’m ready.

The path goes uphill slightly as the sky yawns in the early morning. It is dusky outside. The clouds look like someone took a paintbrush and stroked it across the sky, swooping the brush upward like a feather. It’s a dusty pink.

The Joshua trees are silhouetted in the low light. I feel like I’m walking on a sandy path of the ocean floor. A cool breeze whips my hair across my forehead. It gently blows the plants around. The succulent-like grass dances quietly in the wind, resembling the push and pull-lull of the ocean.

The trail curves and a large wall rounds upward. It makes me feel as if I’m underwater and the ocean wall is covered in coral.

The Joshua trees look like the tentacles of an octopus, just with needles on the end.

The sky turns orange. The sun comes over the tree line like a ball of golden fire.

“That’s so funny you see that,” Lucie says. “I feel like I’m in Africa. Like I can turn my head and there will be a giraffe right there.”

It looks like Africa, too.

“I can’t get anywhere!” Dad says. “I’m going to hang out here a while.” He steps off on a boulder to watch the sky.

Big rock formations pop up, reminding me of the boulder area we went through early on in trail.

Bushes of three tier dusty purple flowers surround the path. Spindles of lavender tentacles poke out of them.

We catch the others. The Joshua trees are everywhere! One is so big and wild that it looks like a jungle gym.

Bumper waits ahead at a fence crossing. He is slinked over and looks like a string puppet.

“What’s your name?” he says as I stand in front of him.

“Tailwind.”

“Where are you going?”

“Canada.”

“What animal roams the PCT?”

I think back to the sign with news of the endangered animals. “Tortoise.”

“Okay, you can pass,” he says.

The sky is bright blue and puffs of clouds are blown all over it.

We walk up a mile long hill. The sand is swallowing my feet as I step. The wind blows and what would be a steaming hot day is cooled down.

We reach our water cache. It’s a ton of water jugs lined up. I step over hikers hiding in the shade and fill up my water. I cross the dirt road and sit next to Dad in the shade.

I take my shoes off and empty them out. There’s enough debris in here to make a sandcastle! My gator had a hole the size of a shirt button. It has now grown to the size of a quarter.

Soon we’re going up the 3.5 mile ascent. It’s a steady uphill. A mud green snake with a yellow stripe at the bottom slides across the trail. It’s only a foot long and the width of a fat spaghetti noodle.

Dad and I both pause to watch it. We haven’t seen that before. Earlier we saw a big beetle with a red head — soldier blister beetle. I wonder what it feels like to be bit by one of those things. Dad hadn’t seen them before, and this is his 6th time on this section of trail!

Finally near the top, we spot our group — and Rafiki! I hide behind a broken log and eat lunch while flicking ants off of my backpack. Savannah eats a pulled pork and peanut butter tortilla followed by some off-brand Nutella. Rafiki laughs at her the whole time, calling it a tortilla of sadness.

Soon we’re on the road again. It’s wooded with pines and brush. I spot a rock formation in the distance that looks like an orangutan.

Only ten miles left!

We walk in a line through the woods. There are pines on either side for miles. I listen to music and lead the group for a while. The wind swooshes against my ears. Soon, the group breaks apart. I proceed to a dirt road. My FarOut app says this is the right way. I follow it along for a bit.

A giant smiley face drawn in the sand tells me Dad was here!

My feet are so tired. They hurt walking on this compact sand! I’m dragging myself forward for what feels like forever.

I turn around and find Savannah approaching.

“Hey!” I say.

“Hey! I wanted to run, but Bumper didn’t want to. He’s behind somewhere, not too happy I’m going fast.”

She goes ahead. Bumper and I end up walking the road together.

We finally reach the spring! This is just a pipe with water coming out of it. Rafiki is laid out in the cabin. The rest of us crash his party. I make dinner — potatoes with WAY too much beef stew seasoning. Hopefully my stomach can handle that. I already had to dig two cat holes today.

I am absolutely exhausted. I stare at my mat for a few minutes before asking Dad about mice in the cabin.

“It should be okay,” he says. “Just hang your bag.”

I chat with a guy named LeapFrog while I eat dinner. We talk about what brought us out here. His kids are a little younger than myself.

I go to rinse my stuff in the water. As I step on the makeshift step, which is a grate, I fall forward and nearly into the water. Muck gets all over my foot.

I’m freezing by the time I get to the cabin. Doing my nighttime chores feels like it takes forever. Dad was supposed to sleep in here, but his space was overtaken so he went to tent somewhere else. I’m kind of annoyed about that. I don’t like that he gets kicked out of his place because of other people.

I did offer to beat up people who do that to him, but he kindly refused.

He also refused me telling them off for him.

So I guess tonight is another night to not panic about mice. Last night, Poppy and Seaby did actually have mice issues: chewed up trekking pole handles and shoulder straps on the backpack.

Other than that, I had way too much salt in my dinner and washed it down with a liter of water. Hopefully I don’t have to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.

If I do, I’ll just chase out the mice.

There are five of us packed tightly into this cabin. The counters on the sides of the cabin hold our shoes and all of our packs are hanging like pigs slaughtered and hung to drain.

Awful image, I know. They’re all just hanging there, though! There are soda pop cans over the strings that hold them from the pack to the ceiling. Mice can’t crawl on cans!

I don’t know what tomorrow holds for us. The miles everyday have been bigger than expected. Dad says this trail is a 20 mile a day trail. I wish I had done that for this leg, but at least I know I can go far.

Plus, we’ll be out of the desert soon! I’m ready for it. Today is the last day I’ll see the scrubby bushes. I was sad for a bit — then I hit the hills and was reminded about heat plus hills makes for a hard day.

Soon the desert will be behind me! So long, scrubby bushes!