Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Day 6: Wed, May 3

(Stud) We awoke this morning at 4:25am when the front end of the tarp came loose. A big gust of wind pulled out the stake. This really pissed Dwight off and he began packing up immediately. How dare the tarp collapse when he spent so much time putting it up! So we were off to an early start.

It was a nice hike into Warner Springs. A steady breeze kept it from getting too hot--something we really appreciated when we hiked across some large expanses of dried grassland.

When we got near Barrel Springs, we noticed that there were a lot of tape flags in the bushes. At first Leslie thought they might be marking where they planned to widen the trail. Then I noticed that they were all on the same type of bush--and wasn't that poison oak? Sure enough--further down the trail they were identified with plant markers.

We stopped for lunch alongside a creek shaded by large California live oak. Just as we were getting ready to leave, a group of folks on horseback came through--maybe 10 or so--followed by a small border collie. One of the men said, "That's Mudflap. He likes staying in the back". They were beautiful horses--nicely groomed and well tacked. Maybe from a local dude ranch? We saw them again at Eagle Rock--a very cool rock outcropping that looks dead on like an eagle.

We arrived at Warner Springs Resort in late afternoon dusty and dirty and ready for a shower. This was our first planned resupply--so our first stop was the Post Office located in a small single wide trailer. It was stacked floor to ceiling with hiker resupply boxes-a fact that seemed to irritate the local postal worker.

Then we got a room at the resort. I jumped in the shower and scrubbed every inch of my body--and still found dirt on my legs when I got out. Geez, will I ever get used to being this dirty?

Leslie kindly did all of our laundry while I waited around the room in my translucent plastic Myrtle Beach Marathon rain poncho. It was my only remaining clothing item. Hmmm. I might have to rethink this rain gear thing--since it's the only the I have to wear when doing laundry.

Lots of other hikers arrived here doing the day--and the hotel grill was nearly all hikers when we went there for dinner. We had a nice meal, met a number of new folks and headed off to bed.

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