May 14: Beauty and Bread

We didn't start hiking from the road until after 10am. We got a ride along with a couple other hikers from the owner of the hostel. Before we left we mailed some things at the P.O. and then had to wait a bit for everyone else to get ready.

Despite our late morning start the miles seemed to move by. We had our most beautiful day of weather yet. It was sunny and mildly warm with a light breeze and lots of shade. This was the weather you dream of when you're picturing your hike as the ultimate getaway and pure bliss. Most days start frigid cold and quickly turn blistering hot. Although we have yet to see just how hot the desert can really get. We meet people in town who sometimes say they want to do a hike like this, then they here a story of a hiker waking up with a spider crawling on them and quickly change their mind. It's easy to dream of the postcard perfection of hiking, but the challenges and obsticals are many. Still we find the difficulties to be minimal when compared to the beauty and joys hiking can lead to.

I'm reminded of a famous John Muir quote: "We all need beauty as well as bread." I'm sure I don't have the words exact from memory. I suspect many of us in America are getting more than our share of bread, but sometimes we're starving ourselves of beauty. Still others have opened their eyes to the beauty that surrounds them.

We hiked the second half of our perfect weather day through a forest fire area about 6 months old. It was dusty and barren with some large pine trees that survived. Looking in the distance Jess commented how you seemed to be looking at a black and white photo. Taking a closer look at the ground the small sprouts of green were the reminder that an abundant forest would come again. A beautiful picture of life emerging out of death. Most interesting to me were the large holes left after a stump had entirely burned. I saw one squirrel that reminded me how no other animals were present as in other areas. They all flee the barreness.

We hiked until darkness came and climbed into sleeping bags under a strong moonlight.

Total Miles: 286.4
Today's milage: 21.1
Camp 17: Boulders and Burn

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