Day 30: One Day at a Time

(407 to 430.7, Messenger Flats = 23.7 miles)

Burn areas can be beautiful.

So today was spent hiking 23.7 miles of mostly road through the '09 Station Fire.  It wasn't terribly hot, and the terrain wasn't awful, but it was a bit hard stacked upon the last two days.  Hard, but sort of nice in its own way.  I feel like I say that about every day out here.  I do, don't I?  

This might knock you out.

I was thinking today after my mp3 player died (it's helped pass the time on the road; and, with my hands free of trekking poles, I can Jazz-hand the day away) about how the days have flown by out here.  We'll be out for a month tomorrow.  I think it's partly that we're ridiculously busy -- with 13 hours of hiking, you barely have time to clean yourself, cook, do dishes, stretch, and write, let alone do something fun like clip your nails.

"What's This Flower?" Poodle Dog Bush. Nasty.

So being busy makes time fly.  I also think it is that every day is wildly different.  Sunday, it was Mt. Baden-Powell; Monday, it was the detour, getting lost, and pounding out a fast 9 miles; today, it was the burn area, dance parties in the road, and the eerie correctional facility we walked through.  A few days ago, we awoke to ice on our bags; a couple of weeks ago, our brains were roasting in 105 degree temps.  There is little monotony aside from the walking itself.  

Wildflowers reclaiming the road.

I have also found something unusual for a planner like myself:  I plan very little out here.  I don't look more than a day ahead when it comes to maps and terrain.  I don't plan where to stay at night until after lunch that day -- and usually that simply entails setting a stop time; we start looking for a flat spot to sleep half an hour beforehand.  I don't know about obstacles like peaks, waterless stretches, and heat until right before they happen.  I inform myself enough to stay safe, but not quite enough to know what to expect.  And I'm fine with it.  So.  Have I let go a bit?  Or is this just a trail thing?  Because in the regular world, I'm a detail oriented, organized, list-keeper.  But, out here, I’m more of the oh-really-we're-gaining-2200-feet-first-thing-tomorrow?-Huh.  

PCT directional.

The question(s) of the day is:  What is it that is different about out here that makes it easier to just take the days as they come?  And what does it mean?  How will or how does it transfer over into daily life?  I'll think on it more tomorrow.  Thinking, I have plenty of time for.

Lizard crossing!

Two firemen were killed in the Station Fire.

What seemed to be a correctional facility --
burned to the concrete core.