Friday, March 29, 2019 – 5.30 miles

I read during breakfast and finished the book, then completed my other chores. While waiting for my external battery to charge, I bought a root beer float at the community centre. I received a bottle of root beer, an empty cup, and a plastic cup of ice cream (like a Dixie cup, but the brand was a mystery). I squeezed the ice cream into the empty cup and poured in the root beer… the root beer was too much! The ice cream was too little! Heresy! Perhaps foolishly, I decided not to buy anything for my chafe, because the sunscreen seemed to work decently and the chafe hadn’t bothered me during my time in Warner Springs. Maybe I was just walking weirdly the one day. And if sunscreen can be multi-purpose, who am I to deny it that fulfillment?

Despite an offer of hot dogs and watching softball at 3:00 PM, I left the community centre around noon. The first day after resupply is always the worst, but I felt listless even considering my heavier pack. Normally when I take neros, I arrive at the rest stop in the morning and take the afternoon off, so maybe taking the morning off doesn’t agree with me.

The scenery reminded me of the Heysen, first pastoral and then hilly and scrubby. There was even a drop where the trail eroded into a gully. Aww Heysen.

The trail crossed a sandy stream called Aqua Caliente multiple times – the water looked kinda scummy by the highway but improved at later crossings.

I made camp at an established site a short distance before the last crossing and haven’t seen any other hikers since then.