Our morning miles seemed to pass quickly as we were heading to a stream that was supposed to be the largest amount of water yet. We heard the sound of water as we stood high on a ridge and peared into a vast basin around a half mile wide. We decened to the basin that seemed it could have been home to a roaring whitwater rivers during a flood, but was now shadless and nearly dry. We knew there was a small vein of water that would flow somewhere through this basin. The trail moved more up the basin than across and we hiked more than a mile without coming to the water or hearing any sound of it. In the shadeless heat we finally came over a small hump and we saw a gushing stream with what seemed to be a village of people! There really were 10 hikers sitting along the water resting, drinking, washing clothes, and even sitting in it. The stream was only about 3 feet wide and varried in depth, but it was wonderful cold water. No doubt flowing from snow melt up high somewhere on Mt. San Bernidino which was seen in the distance.
Hikers tend to congregate at water for breaks during the day. And one hiker claimed it was a glorious oasis in a dry land. I understood how civilizations are drawn to live on and near water. You could feel how this place seemed to give life. The drinks of water restored our bodies. But, the cool relief of washing and resting seemed to restore and lift everyone spirit.
I forgot to mention this was the morning that I had ants get into my [Mark] food bag. It was crazy! There were hundreds, it seemed, and they chewed through some plastic bags! I thought ants only crawled on things and got into stuff left open. These ate through my plastic bag! They were all up in my sunflower seeds and the bag had so many holes the seeds kept falling out! I worked and got rid of about 90% of the ants. There was no way to get rid of them all unless I was going to individually blow on every Cheeto. So I packed up my food and my traveling ant army and set out. Jess wants my trail name to be "Ant Farm". Yeah, I had a little ant farm in my pack most of the day. It's cool though, they don't weigh much.
We took a long afternoon break under the shade of a big tree with the new group of hikers. We spent the rest of the day leap frogging with many of these hikers. We later followed a stream bed up a valley for a few miles, and it was wonderful to be near to water. Jess remarked how uncharacteristic this is for the PCT, which likes to be up high along the ridges. We pulled off for the night camping with a group of these hikers. We have found ourselves willing to stop a mile or two shorter in order to spead some time getting to know other hikers. This has been quite fun!
Total Milage: 235.0
Today's milage: 20.9
Camp 14: Group above Creek
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