May 31:A Long Day

This turned out to be our highest mileage day so far, although we really didn't try for it. We had not been allowing ourselves to do more than 25 miles a day because we did not want to arrive to early to the High Sierras. The high mountains still hold tons of snow in June on many years and it is easy, safer, and so on if you let much of the snow melt- which is something it does very fast this time of year. A few days can make a big difference. Well, partly because we were tired of waiting and partly because we did a short day yesterday, we decided to allow ourselves to stretch our legs a bit more.

We had another 18 some mile stretch without water and it is definitely getting hotter. We are technically in the southern Sierra mountains- a sort of transition zone between the desert and the High Sierra mountains. We soon learned by transition zone it meant we would have both bears and rattle snakes, pine trees and Joshua trees, lack of water yet just 8 days ago they had 6" of snow. The heat and lack of water definitely make it seem more like desert areas.

Mid-morning we came across an older gentleman resting on a rock beside the trail. He was a section hiker just out for about a week. I said hello and he responded by asking how far we were going. As I got close enough to see his face I exclaimed, "Are you okay?" He had dried blood all over his face and under a blood stained backwards ball cap was a large duct tape bandage. He explained that he slipped earlier that morning and managed to strike his forehead directly on a sharp rock gashing his head. I couldn't see how bad the cut was but replied, "Well, it looks like your bleeding has stopped, so that's good." He planned to stick with his scheduled hike. Later we would catch up to the hikers who provided the gauze and tape to bandage him and they said he really needed stitches and they encouraged him to go into town at a upcoming road. Later they wished they would have thought to take a digital picture of his forehead so he could see just how bad it was. Small accide!
nts can become a bigger deal when in the wilderness. Hopefully this issue won't be more than a scar.

We hiked on in the day, happy as the weight of water became less and less as we drank. We ended up catching up to three other hikers and camping with them near a stream. I went over to meet a neighbor across the stream that was car camping at the end of the road. He was out hunting bobcat and grey fox. Although his hunt turned into dog retreval as he lost 4 out of his five dogs the first day. He still had 1 missing as I talked with him. I told him I was coming over to see what time breakfast was going to be. He laughed and said he was already out of food. He did offer me a bit-o-honey candy bar which I gladdly excepted. As I layed in my sleeping bag chewing it I wondered if bears really are attracted to honey as in the cartoons.

Total Miles:607.3
Miles Today:27.2
Camp 34:Bit-O-Honey

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