Day 14

24.5 miles 

Today was really uneventful, mostly road walking on tired legs and a sore ankle. This was the start of the day anyway all the way along the rest of the pink line back to the point where it reconnected to the red line. Somethings like 17 miles. Tough yakka for sure and I had to dig deep at a couple of points, popping in the earphones to listen to some tunes. 

Water has been the name of game. It has been so dry this year many of the usually reliable ponds, creeks and springs have been dry so the water carries have been big. Planning on the fly to make sure you have sufficient supply through the day and the evening and next morning if dry camping can be challenging. I’ve been burnt by caches being empty before and never rely on them, always arriving with some water to push on if necessary. I have to say the volunteer caches have been great and while the ‘hiker bubble’ or main body of hikers have passed through they are still being cared for and I’ve not found one completely dry. 

My main source for the water was a cattle trough.

From the redline junction the trail turned into a red scoria scramble on single track through rough looking pines, obviously on a much drier patch of land. Scoria trails are one of the worst. Thousands of fist sized rocks covering the track just itching for the opportunity to catch a foot, slip out from underneath or roll and ankle. 

This made trail on an already sore ankle difficult. I just had to take it slow and steady through this country. The scoria continued through a previously burnt area that was fairly barren with many fire killed trees still standing. It was windy and many of the fire killed trees were already on the ground and over the trail, to be stepped over, crawled over or under. My pace with quick through here with the wind. 

A rough, switched back track cut down steeply to a saddle only to climb its way back out the other side. At least this was back in non burnt country. 

I didn’t make it much more than 4.6 miles before calling it, finding a nice flat section of ground for my tent. Another big day done. Still on a sore ankle that is getting no better but is doing no worse. It is bearable. 

The struggles of the day are told by the lack of photos. Some days it is just a head down and grind it out affair.