May 19, 2011

Start: 335
End: 354

So just so you all know, sleeping near water tends to lead to more condensation on the tent than camping away from water. Somehow when I was setting up last night I didn't realize I was near a small creek so this morning my tent had condensation inside and out.

After we had each taken care of our respective condensation issues by wiping off or drying things in the sun, we headed off down the trail, 7 miles to McDonalds, which is ocated less than a half mile off the trail where the trail passes under Interstate 15. It was a beautiful morning to be hiking and I took more pictures than necessary, but I figure I'm just making up for other days when I don't take many.

When we got to McDonalds a little after 10am, the six of us took over one corner (3 tables) with ourselves and packs, and tried to get as far away from other patrons as possible due to our hobo looks and hiker smell. We had sort of an informal competition to see who could eat the greatest number of calories. The following is the list of food I ate with the corresponding number of calories:

Big breakfast with hotcakes 1090
Syrup 180
Whipped margarine 40
Sausage egg and cheese mcgriddle 560
Large orange juice 290
Apple walnut salad 210
Cheddar onion mcchicken 360
Jalepenos cheddar mcchicken 370
Reeses PB Mcflury 660
Peach pie 250

Total calories: 4010

I should also note, and I'm sure you'll be proud to know, that I was the winner of the competition! Wiz was a close second, followed by Drop Dead, Speed Bump, Kylie, and last but not least, Annie.

After we had sufficient time to recover from all the food we ate, we headed back to the trail. The area where we walked after lunch is right on, or very near to, the San Andreas fault. We walked along the side of one ridge before crossing a valley and then ascending the next ridge. The goal was to get to a place called Gobblers Knob, where the map showed some campsites, but due to our long lunch at McD's we only made it part way before searching along the ridge top for decent places to camp before it got dark. It's not exactly flat, but it's flat enough.

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