Corners

We are at mile 320 and it's cold. The last three days have been  chilly. We had just about every piece of clothing we own on this morning. Dirty Girl's hands were frozen and she was unable to use her poles; she did not use them all day even when they thawed. She thought she would change something up. There are so very few things you can change out here.

      After a couple of hours of hiking we arrived at Deep Creek Hot Springs. It was a bit trashed and mainly populated by young men looking for their weed or smoking it. Never mind. DG and TC found a vacant pool and disrobed. It was glorious inspite of the information dispensed by Topo. She said that getting any water up your nose could cause encephalitis or some such catastrophe. DG wondered if the  boys diving into the water knew this. She and  TC , to play it safe kept their noses out of the water. Had they not been on their way to Canada they would have stayed longer. Do not think harshly of us for not being leisurely. Leisure means more food, more food means more weight. Topo did not enter the encephalitis infested water.

      We walked  by the Deep Creek most of the day. What a gorgeous valley and creek. We ambled along and at every corner something unexpected  would greet us like a hill covered in flowers; the San Gabriel Mt s. covered in snow  and so stunning they could have been mistaken for the Himalayas; a snake sunning itself while waiting for lunch to pass  by; a mountain lion (not yet); a bear (in our past); a  bicolored lizard-whizzing by like a formula one race car; a convex bridge that someone decided to paint bright primary colors (apparently recently done), what a kindness that was  to create art where once was only ordinariness. Someone looked at that. bridge and was inspired to carry a lot of paint, many miles to make people smile. A corner might turn into a hillside of California  poppies. You never know if your heart is going to stand still in fright or fill with joy. The first responder is the body quickly followed by the heart and lastly interpreted by the mind. It's nice to stay with body and heart for as long as possible.

      We are now approaching the Mojave. Fortunately we are encountering a cold spell so we are not sweltering in the heat but the heat is lying in wait for us somewhere nearby. Somewhere just around the next corner.