Day 102: Old Station - Burney Mountain Guest Ranch

Date: 18.07.2018

Miles hiked today: 33 miles / 53.10 km

Total mileage: Mile 1'409.7

Wow I did it again! I hiked more than 30 miles two days in a row! But I'm done, can't walk any step anymore. I even hiked the last 3 miles with my crocs. My feet were burning! But let's start in the morning.

Some hikers decided to leave very early in the morning to hike all the way to Burney in one single day. First, I really didn't want to do this, it didn't even cross my mind! But then the idea was stuck in my head and grew. I know I can do it now, but two big mile days in a row is hard. However, the next strech to Burney is very dry. There is water in 16 miles and thereafter 12 miles later, just 3 miles before the Burney mountain guest ranch. So you kind of have to hike all the way in once, unless you want to hike only 16 miles each day. But that's a little less for one day. I couldn't leave my tent as early as the others did but started hiking at 6am. As i thought I'm far behind the others i hiked very fast, 6 miles in 1 hour 44 minutes. There is a water source 6 miles out of old station but as it is quite a descend and as I filled up my bottles last night I'm able to hike the 16 miles in one go. Apparently, not everyone knew about this! :) i passed Shaun about 8 miles in and breaked for 10 minutes, what a mistake. Less than a mile later there was trail magic! How awesome, there was ice cold water, coke and other drinks, also food and fresh oranges. Here the magic really happens for us hikers! It's only 10am but it's already getting really hot already. Suddendly, Dirty Money hikes along. I thought she is far ahead as she left earlier than me this morning. But she didn't fill up her bottles at the gas station last night and had to hike to the next water source! If she had only known that a couple of miles later there is this awesome trail magic! What a bummer! After spending there nearly 1 hour I move on. It's 6 miles more to the next water cannister and also where I plan to break for lunch. The hike is exposed to the sun and it's really hot already. Im happy to refill my water and break for lunch. While I prepare my lunch also Dirty Money joins me. I'm still sitting there by the time she leaves again! I love the breaks but they end too soon all the times:) it's getting cooking hot now but I still don't realize it really. I take 2 liters and a little bit of water with me. It's 12 miles to the next water source and everyone seems to take 2 liters maximum, so I should be fine. Normally I always carry far too much water but that's just adding extra weight to your backpack, which I obviously try to avoid. So I move on at 1:30 pm. The hike is beautiful, along a rim for a couple of miles before descending again. I feel like in Africa, it's damn hot and no shade at all. Soon later I catch up with Dirty Money. She advises to hike very slowly, on the auto mode as we call it, to not use too much energy and not to heat up your body too much. The water I carry gets less and less. Until in only have about 1/2 liters left and it is still like 6 miles to go to the next water source! I'm very whit myself. Why did I not fill up all my water bottles today as I usually do?! Why today I did decide to do differently?! I can carry 3.7 liters of water but normally I only drink about 1.5 liters for 12 miles. But today is not a normal day. We are in the middle of a heat wave. I have to ration my water now. The lawa stones don't make it any better, in fact they give extra heat from the ground, though they are pretty but my feet hurt, i think also because it's so hot and they are swollen. I cant hear any animals, no tweeting from the birds, no rustle from lizards or squirrels, i cant even see any ants. It must be too hot for them too! Its absolutely silent, only the gras makes some sound when there is some wind. The last 3 miles we allow ourselves to drink one sip of water every 0.5 miles to wet our throat. We stopped talking since a while and only breath through our nose and keep our mouth clothed. It's really not a nice situation and I'm soo happy to have Dirty Money with me and not being on my own. I think I would have freaked out! A guy hiking 20 minutes behind us has seen a cougar but all I looked at was dirty money's pretty legs and concentrated on one step more, one step more and don't think of water or an ice cold coca cola! Eventually we reached the water source, a nice little stream with ice cold water. All my bottles are completely empty. That's like heaven on earth! I also dip my feet into the water but they even hurt more, its like a cramp. While dirty money moves on, it's only 3 more miles to go, I still lift my hurting fees up. About 30 minutes later I make my way too, but in my crocs as I can't put my feet back into my hiking shoes any longer today! It actually worked quite while and I reach the ranch at 7:30pm, just in time for lunch! That was a long and mentally hard day! After the long hiking day yesterday I'm more than glad that we decide on making a 0 day here tomorrow! I pitch my tent in the garden in the dark, crawl into it and fall asleep. Not getting up early tomorrow!