Days Off- Jenn

I have been home for a few days now, waiting until I meet up with my sister to get back on the trail Wednesday morning at Agua Dulce for a long stretch of desert hiking that will take us through Green Valley, by Lake Hughes, Lake Isabella, through Lancaster (literally through, I think we walk on sidewalks in town), and along an aqueduct to end up in Tehacahapi/Mojave. In total I will be hiking a 79 mile portion with her and I couldn't be more excited. I am thrilled for her to experience a slice of what Matt and I have been part of, and I am also really needing to get back to hiking! The decision to take a few days off was kind of last minute, and I still haven't decided if I'm regretting it or not. Matt had to go back to work after his 3 weeks of vacation, so we knew he would be meeting up with a friend or family member in the LA area to head back to his parents house and figure things out from there. I had started feeling sinus pressure and just all-around not that great in the Cajon Pass area, and I found myself wondering if I wanted to take the same ride back to rest up for a few days. It would also mean skipping 50 miles of hot, dry, waterless desert with overgrown poodle dog bush and poison oak, which I was pretty ok with- but there is still something about skipping even the smallest part of the trail that I know will weigh on me for a while. I figure I can go back and hike it for a few days when I'm feeling up to the poisonous plant battle.

So now I am at the beginning of my third day of and am feeling pretty much the same as when I left, but instead of my nose being filled with bloody green goop my symptoms have trickled into my throat. Oh well. T minus 2 days till I go again, so I guess I'll heal up however I can in the next 48 hours.

Being off the trail has been really interesting in so many ways, and having access to mirrors really has allowed me to see how I've been physically changing. I've lost a few pounds, my hair is becoming sun bleached, and I have absolutely the most ridiculous tan lines from shorts, socks, trekking poles, rings, and anything else you can imagine. Purple toenails. Totally normal on the trail, a little odd in the real world. One of my favorite transformations is how insanely clear everyones eyes are- super white whites, crisp clean irises, dark, deep pupils, and the most beautiful all around reflective quality. It's such a small thing to notice, but it brings about this kind of clarity and calmness to look into everyones eyes and see how the trail manifests similarly in all of us.

 I thought I would be a lot more excited about real life food than I am. I miss the salami and string cheese tortillas with a side of corn nuts for lunch, dried mangos, kind bars, almond butters, dehydrated meals, gatorade, even oatmeal! It is so much simpler to just reach into my sack and pull out whatever is in there to stuff into my mouth. Don't get me wrong, I love real life food when I'm on the trail, since it is such a treat to have something different for a meal, but when the option for anything you can think of for any meal you can think of is out there, it gets a little overwhelming.

I have lots more "housekeeping" things to do today- organize more food boxes, update the blog with the last couple days of hiking (also, check back later for a major change to the site- it will be exciting! I hope), renew my passport, get more salami, drink more coffee, blah blah blah. Fun times.