Day three-the desert

The day began perfectly, nice and cool so I could really get through some good miles early. Not too far into it I made it to mt laguna campground and decided to get a gatoraide from the store. Mostly just to be assured that I would have enough water. From there my day became filled with great things: I met great people, endured great pain, walked through great wind, and even witnessed a great race. There happened to be a 50 mile trail race going on during the exact section I happened to be hiking today. The minor hassle with all of the runners was well worth it. At the aide stations they gave me whatever I wanted, so I scarfed down lots of chips and oranges. And even the runners were great. Even when I moved aside for them the majority of them would stop and wait for me saying things like "your a through hiker, it's your trail". There course was an out and back all on the pct so I got to talk to all hundred or so of them a couple times each.

Next, I met a man and a woman who were section hiking. They were very nice, helpful, and when they made it to their camp they actually showed me where a trail angel had left hikers water and oranges. My first trail angel experience.

The next great person I met was I believe named Eric from San Diego (I may be wrong, due to the fact he woke me from my midday nap). It was good though, I needed to eat. Eric was real nice and we talked for quite a while about everything from the trail to the nearby desert to even Oregon. In the end he was actually interested in following my blog!

Lastly, I met a lady cleaning up the race who I chatted with for a while about the weather and snow conditions. As I thought yesterday there was a possibility of thunderstorms. At one point I even put my pack cover on. All the time during my hike it was VERY windy, crossing one of the roads after pioneer picnic area I was walking sideways. Again I wanted to camp on a ridge so it is a bit windy here. As for food today, I ate tons of trail mix and then some more dehydrated beans and salsa. This one would not rehydrate very well, so it was mediocre at best.

It was amazing to see how the land could change so quickly. I started out on rocky hills with a few shrubs, then a nice meadow with a stream running through it. Then the pine trees near laguna campground followed by the laguna mountains along the anza borrega desert. An now I am camped on a ridge past the desert covered in shrubs with huge boulders randomly spaced.