Day 109 – 8/9/13 – 14.5 mi (1954.9)

A first: Burly Whites actually kept his trap shut long enough this morning for us to all sleep past 7am. We had a good breakfast at the restaurant next door, then procrastinated in our room until checkout time. LoveNote added her shoes to the shoe tree at the motel. After another round of milkshakes, we were out of diversions.

Mike from the motel kindly took all 7 of us back to the trail. I had been picked up further back on the highway than everyone else and so I got dropped off a mile and a half back. I caught up about 6 miles in, where the trail left the dirt road and went up to the ridgeline of the divide. Our maps showed an alternate that stayed on the road a few more miles before climbing up. All the southbounders had told us this section of ridge walking was a roller coaster and recommended the alternate to avoid a couple miles of the pointless ups and downs. Softwalker and Flyby took the ridge while our gang opted for the alternate. The alternate also had the advantage of passing a creek where we tanked up on water for overnight on the dry divide.

A little aside, I learned a new entertainment from Softwalker. Change the word “love” in songs to “lunch”. This afternoon I was listening to a Hot Club of Cowtown record of Django Reinhardt tunes. Here were my favorites lyrics:

I’m in the Mood for Lunch
I’m in the mood for lunch
Simply because you’re near me
Funny, but when you’re near me
I’m in the mood for lunch.
Heaven is in your eyes
Bright as the stars we’re under
Oh is there any wonder
That I’m in the mood for lunch

Avalon
I found my lunch in Avalon
Beside the bay
I left my lunch in Avalon
Just to sail away

Back to our regulargly scheduled hiking blog. Once up on the ridge we did have great views all the way. We walked another 5 miles or so on the “roller coaster” but it really wasn’t too bad. We made camp on a windy but flat saddle up on the divide with rain clouds on all the horizons, wee!