Scott checks out the small
miracle of running water at
Barrel Spring.
Amy walks through Grasshopper
Popcorn enroute to Warner
Springs. Salt and butter anyone?
Finally, we descended to Barrel Spring. Now, to the untrained eye, Barrel Spring looks like an ordinary horse trough with a spigot trickling water into it, situated in a grove of oaks, but to a backpacker who hasn't had a bath in over 3 days or clean clothes in 5, it's pure paradise. We took sponge baths and washed all our clothes and I ran around naked while my clothes dried just reveling in my state of cleanliness. (Yes, I have spent a good deal of time naked-what can I say-It feels good.)
In the evening, we continued on. The weather was very pleasant now and the scenery changed to fields and oaks, reminding us a bit of the Sierra Foothills where we grew up. As we crossed a field, millions of grasshoppers began jumping, like popcorn in a hot skillet. Every time we stopped, they stopped, in rhythm with our walking.
At dusk, we made camp in a sandy wash and I typed in my journal far into the night, hoping to mail my first journal notes back home from Warner Springs. I woke in the night to discover that a tiny lizard was sitting on my chest. Startled by my movements, he ran around and around the interior of the tarp, unable to find a way out under the mosquito netting, but we finally guided him out.