Deep Creek Bridge to Silverwood Lake Dam, 25,7 miles
Hot Springs plus marathon Day
Generally half of the day we hiked along the sides of hills with views down to the Deep Creek. Today the sun didn’t burn too hot mainly due to some clouds wich was good, of course. I felt rather weaker than usual probably because my protein intake has decreased. Long ago I finished my protein bars and the cheese we found doesn’t make me too happy-let’s put it this way. We bought nuts, so I’m eating them at every opportunity but it stil is not enough.
OK, the Hot Springs were hot in every way!! Wow, there was a pool with really hot water, like when I’m having a bath (it can’t be hot enough). And there was another, deeper and cooler pool, still too warm for Carsten though! Such a wellcome opportunity to soak and become clean again 🙂
There were of course day trippers, too, and they told us that the spring water is supposed to be good for drinking. So I filled up our bottles.
Thor and Dr.Tart arrived, too.
At our lunch stop Carsten confides in me that he thinks that he has a beginning of shint splints but he wanted to al least hike three more miles to the next water according to the Data Book. And then we kept hiking, he was not feeling too bad and we decided to hike three more miles to a spot where another trail intersects the PCT. Not far from there, there was supposed to be a store on the highway 173 with at least ice cold drinks. What else would make thirsty hikers happy right on trail? Well, ice cold drinks.
So we hiked and hiked and hiked and the three miles seemed longer and we somehow never found that intersecting trail. We kept encouraging each other that for sure after the next bend there has to be that connection to the highway, but no, so OK maybe after the next one…until I recognized something on the map which made it pretty clear that we were way past that point. On one hand my disappointment was very big on the other hand I was happy that in two hours of extra hiking we had done like 5 more with hurting feet and shint splints…
We camp now right on the trail underneath of the huge Silverwod Lake dam. I hope it will hold the pressure.
We are TIRED.