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Stopped at: Penny Pines, mile 49.1 Miles today: 12.1
I woke up early with a very sore knee, but did not leave Long Canyon until 10:00 am. Today was partly cloudy making it awesome weather to hike since the clouds filtered the sunlight. Had I stopped earlier yesterday, I would have probably arrived at this point by 10:00 am today and save my knee and shin from the damage.
Kevin passed by at 9:30 pm wondering where I was last night. He had a good night at the camp off Fred Canyon Road and met a cool dude on a personal spiritual mission; however, there was also a party crowd, which he labeled, "They were annoying."
We discussed the trail and some hiking experiences he's had, such as the Himalayas. I, on the other hand, had no backpacking experience other than car camping and one short overnighter. Kevin assured, "We will get stronger over time. It takes about 2-3 weeks. I've considered quitting because my knee is bothering me, but I know I'm not going to quit." I confessed to him I considered quitting already- hauling the backpack was taxing and my body ached everday- but Kevin was hiking in discomfort, but he's not stopping. Who, then, was I to give up so easily? That was a good brief discussion which helped motivate me once again.
The first mile was slow and torture, but I managed to hike the 5 miles to the town of Laguna. As I progressed, I felt better, especially after peaking each mountain. Instead of pausing every 1-2 hours to prevent blisters, I kept the momentum and continued.
The Laguna general store had sandwich goods, soft drinks, candy bars, and ice cream. I only purchased one and a half days of food, but the next grocery store was over 2 days away. I hadn't yet overcome the fear of carrying much weight because I didn't feel strong enough yet. Just another lesson to be learn.
Many bicyclists were on the porch killing time. I sat around for about an hour resting, eating ice cream and snickers, and drinking vanilla coke.1 I purchased one bottle of coke for the trail.
As I was leaving, I met married hikers Glenn and Sheila from Canada [web page link], who spent the day travelling to San Diego to check on Glenn's neck, which was operated on recently. They camped last night at Burnt Ranchiera where there was a water fountain on the trail. Tonight, they considered camping at the Laguna campground, where I had also planned to stop.
Glenn and Sheila also mentioned becoming stronger as the hike went on, which boosted my confidence. I said, "I had a light pack, about 25-30 pounds with water and 1-2 day of food, but a heavy heart." Everytime I see a daunting climb, I felt discouraged when I was exhausted.
Stranger in a Strange Land was the science fiction novel I brought along, but never touched, not even during the bus ride a few days ago. Before leaving the general store, I placed the paperback novel on top of the newspaper dispenser, hoping someone, especially a hiker, would take more interest in the famous story. It also lightened the backpack load about half a pound. (I had read a few chapters months ago.)
During the late day, I saw the first rattlesnake sitting patiently in the middle of trail trying to get some refreshing warmth after chowing down on some unfortunate animal. They are well-known in the desert.
A sign pointing to Laguna campground stated it was a 3 mile hike off the trail. The decision to move ahead and skip the campground was easy because of the 6 mile detour (3 miles to the campground, 3 miles back to the trail).
An hour before sunset, I made the trip to Penny Pines Road, rewatered, and set up the tent in some tall grass about .5 miles from Penny Pines. I had planned on sleeping out in the green, but then worried about snakes sneaking in the tall grass. A blister was developing on the large left toe after hiking 2 hours from the Laguna grocery store. Glenn and Sheila bypassed the Laguna campground detour and camped a little further ahead.
