Day 7: Julian - Desert Tent Site

Date: 14.04.2018

Miles hiked today: 12.7 miles

Total Mileage: 89.7

We got picked up from our hotel at 7:15 am by the trailangel Ghost. He drove us back to Julian where we started our day having breakfast. We should know by now that the portions here are huge and we only have to order one dish. However, we did not! The breakfast was huge consisting of two massive pancakes, toast, scrambled eggs, bacon and fries. We did not manage to eat half of our portions!  What a waste! 

I then checked at carmen's place if my sunglasses appeared somewhere in the meantime. I am pretty sure I have left them there somewhere. But they didn't. So I had to get new sunglasses. Quite a mission in such a small place as Julian. I finally found some 7 dollars sunglasses in a liquor store. They shall do fine for the moment. I hope I can get some better ones at warner springs. I did like mine so much! 

We chilled at carmens place for a little while and then took off back to the trail at 11:30 am. Strategically, we have done our first zero day (zero miles hiked) as we arrived in Julian the day before around 10 am and left Julian around 11 am the next day. 11:30 am may not be the best time to start a hike - in the middle of the day - in the desert - uphill for the next 14 miles - with little shade - and no water. The landscape was amazing! That is how I imagined a desert with loads of differents cactusses'. It felt like I paid entry to one of these tropical houses where you get to see all different kind of exotic plants. Just amazing! I took picture over picture and we had about 45 minutes for the first mile of the trail (which is a long time).

The trail moved gently uphill most of the day. Shade was rare but we enjoyed the little winds which gave us a breeze. After one day rest in town my little pains  (shoulder, neck, feed) were gone and I felt amazing with the backpack on. If only we did not shop so much food yesterday and our backpacks would be a little less heavy...! Yes, we still have not learned much on lightweight trailfood! 😂 we even met a girl today who has heard from our amazing trailfood by other hikers who hiked along with us previously! We are becoming famous with our gourmet meals😂🤤😋.

On the last couple of miles we received a shouting warning from a German hiker ahead on trail that he has just encountered a rattle snake. Apparently the snake is right on the trail and refuses to move! Not again! We were both to scared to move along and waited for other hikers to check out the situation. Happily the snake moved from the trail. We could not see anything until the rattle sound started again. The snake did not move far away from the trail but blended in so well into its surrounding that we first did not see it. Still refusing to move we had to walk around it trying to get as much distance between the rattle snake and myself as the trail allows. After forgetting about the rattle snakes for the last couple of days I am scarred of again and check all bushes we pass carefully. As it was getting late we tried to get some last miles in before setting up camp  at 6:45pm. I found some strange wholes in the ground below my tent and remembered a crazy story I was reading today where someone wrote in an information app about loads of ants crawling up his tent outside. I made sure to fill the little wholes with sand before stacking my tent but hope that no Tarantula will creep out below my tent tonight! Having this now stuck in my head I don't know how well I will sleep! Good night!