Day 16 - A Short Day — Walking People Out of Poverty

In the A-frame, there was one bedroom with two beds on the main floor, whereas upstairs was equipped with two beds. Woody and I were sharing the upstairs, while Huckleberry and Traveler shared the room downstairs. At some point in the night, I needed the bathroom, which was located downstairs, but I had no idea where the light switch was. I ended up fumbling around in the dark and felt helpless as I tried to locate the banister and the top step of the rickety stairs leading down. Eventually, I felt safe enough to start venturing down and finally made it to the lower level. Now I had to find the bathroom and the light switch, which was no easy task. From the time I started down the stairs until I started back up, it must have taken me 10 minutes.

We were up at 6, and Woody kindly made coffee, which was greatly appreciated by all. The restaurant didn’t open until 8 a.m., so we had plenty of time to pack up, ready to leave as soon as we had eaten. It had been a nice little break that had enabled us to have a bit of downtime, shower and freshen up, and more importantly, get laundry done. After breakfast, we set off at around 9:20 a.m., and Woody took the lead. The trail led gently down and then gently up, but it was nothing we couldn’t handle. It was also arguably the coolest day of walking since we started, which was very helpful. The first point of interest we saw was the Devil’s Postpile, a national monument. It is an interesting phenomenon caused by a geological process. It is difficult to explain, but maybe the photo below will help explain the Devil’s Postpile.

We carried on and eventually came to the Little Fork of the San Joaquin River. The bridge had been washed out, and we were forced to walk across. As with the previous rivers we had to ford, I took my shoes and socks off, attached them to my backpack, and set off confidently across the water. I arrived safe and sound on the opposite shore, dried my feet, put my shoes and socks on, and off we went again. We still had several miles to go before lunch, and Woody set off with the same controlled pace that he had started out with earlier this morning. In no time at all, we reached our destination and found a shaded area in the trees where we could relax. After lunch, we all needed to get water, which was a short walk back down the trail, so Woody and I stayed behind to keep an eye on everyone’s equipment. Then it was our turn when Traveler and Huckleberry returned. After lunch, I was given the task of leading us off, and wouldn’t you know it, we started up switchbacks, which were the toughest walking of the day. I felt good and strong, and although the sun was on my shoulders, I was feeling confident. The walking was exhilarating. The views were spectacular, and I stopped to take a look back and got a great camera shot across the valley.

Today had been a pretty good day, and the only negative was the strong wind that had challenged us. Unfortunately, the wind got stronger as the afternoon wore on but waned a little as we were about to cook dinner. It eventually petered out just in time for bed, which was around 7:15 p.m.!!!