Those three words just about sum up my first 10 days on the trail. I know, I said posts every week, but my days are somehow entirely taken up with eating, hiking and sleeping;  and I love it! I'm not even sure I could remember a day by day recap, so here's a summary of the highlights... 

The Terrain: Just like the bike, I really didn't have expectations for the hike and what it would look like. I'm glad. It's a gorgeous mix of desert with some higher areas and I am blown away by the variety. The desert ranges from classic cactus to small trees, to plains, to scrubby trees. Walking through it I notice the changes, and they keep me quite entertained.

Walking: I am fairly sure I've forgotten how to walk - walk normally, that is. My gait has changed to compensate for blisters, a pack, and hiking poles, and it's rather amusing.

The Traffic: A few days in, I thought to myself, this is kind of the same as biking, keeping moving all day, but somehow more peaceful. Then it hit me (or rather, didn't - haha) there are no cars on the trail! It's an incredibly magic stillness.

The Sounds: Well at first it seemed like a stillness, and then I realized the silence is very loud. During my midday break, it's full of the dull roar of insects buzzing through the flowers, and heavier, detectable thrums of humming bird wings. During sunrise and sunset, it's full of birds. The scurry of lizards as you go down the trail. The thump of your pack. The loud reptilian rattle that, thankfully, I've only heard once.

The Flowers: They are everywhere! I'm not quite sure what I expected from the desert, but the prevalence of flowers was not on my list. So many blooms of so many colours. I've  been lucky enough to spend some time with botanists and plant experts, so the proper names are now floating around in my brain, even if I still can only positively identify half of what I see.

The Feet: On the plus side - not nearly as many blisters as I expected! On the minus side, still a few inconveniently placed ones, a very sore heel, a lot of dirt between my toes, and a mind-numbing ache any day I try to go more than 25 miles.

The Heat: It's hot! Hot in a too hot kind of way during the day. The only part of myself exposed to the sun is my fingertips (yes, I am hiking with gloves), and I feel like a roasted potato. After being absolutely zapped by the heat for the first 100 miles, I've stopped hiking between the hours of 11 am and 4 pm'ish. During that time, I attempt to find shade (harder than it sounds), and try to get some sleep. I need extra sleep hours because ideal hiking times to cover miles are 4 am to 11 am, and 4 pm to 8 pm. Where there used to be one day, now there are two. Still working out the meal schedule with this one, but I'm getting there.

The Pack: Speaking of things I'm still working on... I packed light for this trip, I really did, but I am already much lighter. I'm slowly starting to figure out how to make every ounce count, not just for one purpose but for at least two. I've realized that being 'ultralight' doesn't just mean having light gear, but it's also about making strategic sacrifices, which have so far included my tent (I still have a tarp), half my sleeping mat, all my not constantly worn clothing, etc.

The Peak: Yesterday I took a small detour off the trail to go climb what John Muir says offers 'the most sublime spectacle to be found anywhere on this earth' - San Jacinto peak. It was pretty gorgeous, and even better than the view, it had some snow on the ground and flowing streams!

Water: Not surprisingly, there's not a lot in the desert. Also not surprisingly, I need to drink a lot, and water is heavy. The route planning mainly consists of checking and double checking where the next water source will be, and hauling enough to get me there. I'm pretty sure I've never been more than 5 km from water in Canada, but here I've had a 40 mile stretch of trail with no natural sources (trail angels drop off caches of water to make the hike possible).

I'm sure I'll have more to say about these topics and others, and maybe soon I'll have the energy and schedule figured out to share them. :)

Cheers from the shade under the Highway 10 bridge.