The first really hot day. We walked alone for most of it, trying to bear the heat. I feel my hiker legs are coming on slowly but surely. Pushing up and downhill today felt great, the smell of dry pine suffusing the air.
One thing went off the bucket list: a rattlesnake sighting! I’d become convinced rattlesnakes were actually a hoax perpetrated by the US government, but my tin foil hat was blown clean off when suddenly, a meter long brown snake looked me in the eye from the side of the trail, too close for comfort. It let out a loud, hissing rattle and I jumped back with a high pitched scream. At least we got that over with.
Later in the day we arrived Mary’s water cache, a place that would be fairly unremarkable, were it not for the fact that Mary herself was there, with a grill, sodas and 4 different kinds of pie. aApparently, it was the one day a year she cooks free food for hikers and we just happened to be so lucky to be there at that time. We gorged ourselves on burgers, chicken teryaki and pie, enjoying the company of some day hikers who’d come onto the hill. We saw Rick and Griffin there too, a duo that never fails to lift my spirits.
Instead of putting out a donation jar for the food and water, all Mary asked was that we write a post card for mother’s day, which she would mail for free (and gather all the good karma coming from such an act). These people here keep humbling me with their kindness and compassion.
Last thought of the day: hiking gear is special in the way that it’s one of the few pieces of technology that bring us closer to nature.