100th Mile! (No it doesn’t say I Do 😉 ) The second teaser picture in my short post, from a while back now.  I luckily got this picture in, because not much longer after this, my phone lost charge and I couldn’t get any more photo’s until I arrived at Warner Springs, the next afternoon.  It was also taken not much after I took a picture of Billy Goat’s Cave…

It’s only big enough to fit one person, just over shoulder width.  I didn’t stay the night there, but wanted too. Ha!  I did set up camp at a water source just shy of a roadway, where a Trail Angel (TA), Walter White, set his stuff up in the morning.  He had breakfast sandwiches, sodas, fruit, and hard boiled eggs.  Ended up sitting with him for a spell and found out he had hiked the Appalachian Trail last year and wanted to give back, but lived on the west coast now.  So here he was.  Left him, and headed to Warner Springs.

So when arriving at Warner Springs, I checked in, charged my phone, set up my spot in the tent area, shopped for lightweight shorts and shirt, and got all the info on what I could do at their resource center. I also got the privilege of having my first bucket bath/shower.  Yes, you heard that right.  You get a bucket, fill it with water and go to the stalls behind the center and ‘bathe’ in it/with it.  It was, surprisingly, Glorious! It was only the second time I washed since starting the trail.   I ended up taking a zero day here to get collected and hand wash… in the bucket (they provide detergent)… my clothes.  At this time I was still ahead of schedule, so a zero felt like the right thing to do. Lots of camaraderie at Warner Springs.  The gist is, if you make it this far, you will go much further, or you would have jumped trail by now.  Also lots of re-evaluating gear and food too.  There is a thing called Hiker-Hunger out here.  You don’t really know it until you have it happen to you.  It’s said that it takes up to ~2 weeks before it hits.  Then, you want to eat everything in sight.  But, until then, your appetite isn’t that big and you almost have to force food down.  Most people don’t have it by this point, so they dump a lot of food they’ve been carrying or have sent to them.  I was no different.  You know that ‘trail mix for days’ I prepared… well, I have stopped having it sent to me for now.  It’s very hard to eat something so dry in the desert, as much as I know I need the calories.  I mostly eat hot re-hydrated food, and bars.  It’s getting me thru just fine.  I left Warner Springs refreshed and ready for the next portion of the hike… so I thought.

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