Monday, May 23     Miles today: 19.8     Total PCT miles so far: 239    So. CA Section C

It took us awhile to get going this morning.  Bill’s feet are swollen and blistered as a result of the horrendous heat yesterday.  I spent some time “doctoring” him, and also feeling MEGA-frustrated at not having a functioning camera.   The scenery here is very different from anything we’ve seen so far on the trail.  The hills are of red rock, very steep, with no trees.  They have a serious, brooding feel to them.  But the chaparral is blooming–the flowers are lovely, and one of them (not sure which) has an intensely sweet smell that carries everywhere on the wind. 

We did meet one young rattlesnake on the trail, trying earnestly to look big and fierce, but ending up looking cute and scared.  (We still gave him a wide berth, however!)  Soon we were at Mission Creek Canyon, and spent most of today in mile after mile of sweltering heat, in a narrow canyon with the creek roaring its way downhill and slamming from one bend to another, forcing the PCT to make OVER 20 fords! 

At the first ford, there was a log to cross on.  Bill of course, skipped right across, but I was scared.  So he came back, took my pack across, then I fearfully inched my way over.  When I reached the other side, I decided, “This is taking way too long.  From now on, I’m going IN the creek!”  So from then on as we wound our way upcanyon, Bill did every crossing on a log, while I simply waded across the creek, shoes and all.  The current of very strong and roaring, and ranged from knee deep to thigh deep, so I had to be careful, but it was still WAY easier for me than teetering and inching my way across logs–and a lot of those logs were really skinny!  Besides, wading in the creek helped cool me off!

On the bright side, it was so damp in the canyon that there were lots of beautiful butterflies everywhere.  And at noon, we were so tired from the heat and constant uphill climbing that we took a siesta in the shade of a big tree after cooking dinner.  It was a very welcome break!

Then we continued the climbing and the fording, admiring the awesome displays of what I call “desert candelabra” flowers–very dramatic towers (taller than me) of golden blossoms.  Finally we got up high enough (huff, puff!) that we were back “home” among pine trees, incense cedars and SNOW, so we kept on going till sundown.  We are camped at 7,600 feet, which means today we climbed 4,000 feet.  Whew, are we tired!  And the irony of it is that we began today in desert and finished back in snow again, when just the day before yesterday, it was the exact reverse!