5/9 Day 3... cold!

We are currently huddled inside our tent at mile 49. It is cold and windy but we are warm and safe.

The start of the trail was fantastic. A beautiful Laura sent us off amidst a few other hikers starting on the same day. The flowers were in full bloom and Zm encountered her first rattlesnake. Other creatures seen were giant black bees, many little lizards, butterflies, ravens, some non rattle snakes, and various other strange bugs. We hiked about 19 miles in low 80's sun. So far the first day has been our longest.

Yesterday, we wound our way up into the Lagunas amidst changing weather. We passed many swallow nests built below a bridge and spooked a small skunk who was sitting on the trail! We each looked one another over and then he was on his way without event. Just before a nice climb, a trail angel appeared at the road crossing bearing Gatorade and super yummy cookies. He was there with his mom, a cute little grey-hair who had been his trail mailer back in 1982 when he thru-hiked under the name, Cowman. Our miles came to around 13 as we decided to camp low to stay as warm as possible. It was nice and refreshing to sleep next to a water source and we could hear the frogs talking all night long.

The next morning saw cold and rain. We climbed up another 1800 feet to mount Laguna and the land turned to an ice wonderland. The trees were coated with ice and the intense wind was blowing the ice off in crystal showers.

We ran into a fair amount of hikers waiting for the post office to open. One of them was a Portlander named Crystal.

After our resupply we hiked into the blowing wind and cold. As we were following the desert divide, the clouds stopped right at the edge and we were able to get excellent views of the desert thousands of feet below us.

The wind was too intense and caused us to stop early to set up camp to be safe.