Day 22 - (5/17/12) - The Odds Are Good, But the Goods Are Odd!

Contents:  Little Bear Springs Trail Camp to Staging Area Before Highway 173 - PCT Detour (approx. 20 miles)

Today was another good day with fairly mellow terrain.  The breakfast cookies Extra Credit and I had made back at the hostel were fabulous and got my day off to an excellent start! Water was plentiful, and I only carried a liter at a time most of the day.  Speaking of water, I am loving the "dip and drop" bleach treatment system.  Water filtration has always been (and will forever remain) my least favorite back country chore, and I definitely appreciated the simplicity and quickness of using bleach.

I left camp hiking with Nips and Wildflower, and we put in about 6 miles before stopping at a lovely stream.  The terrain was mostly open and we walked through some huge burn areas, but it was early and the sun wasn't too hot.  After our break, I knocked off another 7 miles with Nugget and another guy named Ninja.  Our plan was to get to Deep Creek, a fairly substantial river where we would eat lunch and siesta.  

Deep Creek totally delivered and we had a big gathering there for most of the afternoon.  The creek was deep enough for real swimming (well, sort of) and there was a beautiful little waterfall.  There were beaches on both sides and Wildflowers, Smiles, Action Packed, and I wound up getting together for some quality girl 

time on the far shore......We are a small minority and sometimes need a break from all the boys out here, wonderful as they may be!  It was a great afternoon!

We finally tore ourselves away from Deep Creek and hiked another 5.5 miles before dinner.  This stretch was part of the detour which we elected to follow.  The travel was quick, but it was less than spectacular.  We were predominately on jeep roads,   We stopped for dinner at a creek and then put in a couple more miles to bring our daily total to about 20.  We're currently camped in a wash near some sort of jeep four-wheeler staging area.  We'll be back on the real PCT tomorrow.

I've decided to lighten my load and am planning to send a few things home from Wrightwood, my next town stop.  I think I'm going to ditch the dress, my long-sleeve shirt, and my hiking pants.  As much I enjoy wearing the dress in towns, I can't justify carrying it for five days only to wear it for a single day.  It just isn't worth it.  As far as the long-sleeve shirt and hiking pants are concerned, I'm not wearing them very often and I have my rain pants and rain coat to fall back on when I'm cold.  I may miss them some but I'm not going to freeze.  I'm definitely getting lazy out here!