9 — San Bernardino State Park

Mile 109 Warner Springs — 122.7 (13.7 miles)

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Rose: using my medical knowledge AND getting a trail name Thorn: the miserable, hot, dirty siesta Bud: ice cold water & a shower in two days

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The last few days I have been so thankful for my sun umbrella.

It is so bloody hot. I left camp at 5:40, determined to get some alone time. I stopped at the community center, which allowed some of the group to close the gap by 7am. In my quiet alone in the morning I identified five birds, saw an osprey fly overhead, and encountered nine rabbits on trail.

It was already starting to get hot. Our planned day would ascend 2000’ over 13 miles. At one of the last water sources of the morning, I met the hiker named Cowboy icing her ankle in the creek. She had rolled her ankle halfway up the mountain the previous night. She had turned around and was limping back to Warner Springs to hitch a ride to Idylwild. Her and her surrounding hikers seemed pretty clueless on how to treat or wrap the ankle, so I offered to tape it if someone else supplied the tape. Although I wanted to keep hiking before it got too hot, I stayed and taped her ankle while the rest of my group caught up.

After, I filtered water and started hiking. Even though it was only 9:30, Mitch wanted to stay near the water for siesta. Instead, Rebekah and I carried on, leaving the creek behind. That was a mistake.

Only two miles later, Rebekah and I were forced to stop; it was too hot and the sun was unrelenting. We needed shade. We couldn’t find much shade under the manzanitas, so we draped our tents’ rain flys from the branches to take advantage of the airflow from the hot breeze. I tried setting up my tent, but the airflow wasn’t enough and the direct sun on the fly was brutal. We hoped Mitch, Angel, and Lucy had chosen to stay at the last water source. Unfortunate for them, they soon joined our misery. The forecast for Warner Springs says a high of 96* today.

It’s been three hours of a miserably hot siesta. We’re all conserving water, because our next water is in 10 miles and another 1000’ up. We’re also incredibly dirty from rolling around in the dirt in our underwear all afternoon; it’s far too hot for clothing. Rebekah says this is the closest she’s come to living out ‘Naked and Afraid’ or ‘Survivor.’ I think she’s right.

We plan to night hike tonight and then a very early morning hike. Tomorrow will be flatter and hopefully cooler.

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The rest of the group left camp to brave the heat at 5:15pm. I left at six, which was the right decision for me. Only 5 miles to camp and another 1000’ up, which would be pushing it with the 1.5 liters I had left after the siesta and the 1 liter I was saving for the morning hike to Mike’s Place.

I hiked until sunset, ate half my dinner, and finished the final push to camp via headlamp. The campsite was extra small, so I walked another half mile to where Rebekah had set up camp.

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Rebekah has given me a trail name: Strider after Aragon in Lord of the Rings. They wanted to name me “Ranger” because of my job and that I know so many things on trail (“It’s kind of your personality too.”), but it was a little too on the nose. So they thought of Strider, who was a Ranger. I have accepted this name.