Day 18

Doble Spring Campsite to campsite with a waterfall in Holcomb Creek

24.6 miles

6 am was our time goal of getting out of camp and we accomplished it. This was also the first morning I left camp still wearing my puffy warm jacket. Soon into our first climb of the day we warmed up though. Thankfully there wasn’t a ton of climbing in our day as my legs felt heavy and old.

Kevin and I always start our day off with checking in with each other, how we are feeling physically, spiritually, and emotionally etc. Today we also talked through our pace and rest days for the next couple hundred miles. We shared our expectations and hopes, then we will be aware of what we want to do in some situations. For example, having a Nero into a certain town to rest for Kevin but going to the big grocery store for me! We are hoping our friends who rested in town will catch up to us again soon!

Today wasn’t too hot, weather wise. We did take a longer break in the afternoon near water but then finished up our miles by 6pm. We were super proud of ourselves that we got our miles done and also rested along the way. We had time when we got to camp to take a dip in a pool in the creek which was fed by a waterfall! So beautiful and what a treat to have so much water to swim in!

I started listening to the book “The Doctors Blackwell” today. It is about the first women who graduated as doctors and began providing health care for women. So far it is a very interesting story and sheds some light on the mindset of the day and sadly how some parts of sexism haven’t changed.

I also started using a plant identification app today that is super neat. It is called Seek by inaturalist. It needs service to identify the plants but has 80% accuracy and can use pictures saved from the phone too! I am super excited to keep learning plants as we hike through various ecosystems. Today I learned Bridges Pincushion!