Day 2: Mile 670

Written 6/16/14

Posted 6/27/14

Day 2 in the bag. We had our first full hiking day today, and made it 13 miles. We're both feeling pretty good; only a few minor aches and pains. We're getting back into backpacking shape quickly.  Although the ground we've covered is short, we have already learned a few important things with our time on the trail. 

1).  Don't underestimate the wind. So far we've experienced howling gusts at all times of day. This makes the mornings cold and also came close to knocking us off our feet at times.  It also makes us very happy that we packed plenty of earplugs for loud nights. 

2).  Technology makes backpacking a much safer experience.  Doing long trips like this a few years ago before smartphones was considerably more challenging. Take today, for example. We knew that dry water sources were going to be an issue. But thanks to online forums, we were able to print updated water reports before starting, and there are even apps that let you track your location on the trail on topo maps as you go. So all of a sudden when the water source you were banking on is dried up, you can easily find your next one and see on your phone how close you are to it. Getting lost would be nearly impossible, and any resource we need is at our fingertips since you have cell coverage for most of the trail.  So to the parents and worrywarts who are concerned for our safety, you can rest easy on our behalf :)

3).  The days are long, we don't have to hike too fast. Today we got to camp by 3:00 after starting at 7:30. Granted we're doing smaller mileage right now while we get in trail shape, but we have a lot of daylight to cover ground, even on long days, so we should enjoy our breaks and pace ourselves.  It's 7:30 right now and we've run out of things to do, so we're just waiting for the sun to go down so it's dark enough to go to sleep. Either we're going to have to get better at finding things to occupy our time with at camp, or start beefing up the mileage soon.