Day 12 – 100% Tired
Miles hike today 13.4. Total miles 150.5.
Let me first explain that the miles hiked today does not show the effort that was put in. We left the NOC and had a 7.7 mile uphill climb. My mantra for today was just… Breathe. The higher we went up the steeper it became. I set goals of 20 steps and then breath. 20 more steps then breathe. See that tree over there – just make it to that tree… And breathe.
This is Linda following. The terrain was buried with lots of rocks.
Of course we stopped a couple of times along the way. And from the general store at the NOC I bought my favorite snack.
Here is one of our stopping points with a beautiful overlook.
Then it was packed back up and we kept walking… Uphill!
When we finally made it to the top it was a beautiful panorama, but we were all so tired we just laid upon the ground. Did I mention it was a very very sunny day? Temps got up to 80 degrees. It was a grueling, hot hike.
My umbrella came in handy for shade at the top.
After we finally quit laying down, we set up to enjoy the view. At that point we had only hiked 7.7 miles. We needed to hike some more to get us closer so we could get to Fontana Dam the next day. So we got up and started down.
I did not take a lot of pictures of going down. But my friend Linda took this one. I leaned back and went too far and could not get back up. I said, “Give me a hand.” She said, “Wait, I’ve got to get a picture of this.” What are friends for? You can’t really tell, but it’s a huge incline and I was totally stuck.
We were hurrying down as fast as we could hoping there would be trail magic because there was a road in front of us. Alas, no such luck.
But we did set up camp on an abandoned road close to a major highway and there were picnic tables which were a treat for us to eat at. It’s a parking area for people to walk the trail. As we were eating a trail angel came upon us, stopped the car and gave us water, bananas, and oranges. We love trail magic.
Not sure if you can see, but we set our tents up behind the road closed sign. Tomorrow we have a little over 13 miles until we reach Fontana.
Also wanted to point out there was a trashcan at this place. You never knew how valuable a trashcan was until you have to haul your trash everywhere you go.
Nite nite all
