17th May 2025

This day marked one whole month on trail. We moved out quickly, breaking camp and congregating around a picnic table to eat left over pizza and coffee before heading on out up the ridge. The area surrounding us had been heavily burned from past fires. The cloud eerily floated into the valley, swirling upwards. It felt akin to the smoke which caused the area to become blackened in the first place.

Further on at the highest ridge, the walking became very dramatic with dark skies and thick clouds moving so fast we could see them passing over one another. All noise was lost to the wind which battered ua from the south. While it wasn’t raining we could feel the moisture in the air, descending from the damp cloud.  

When we set out this morning we didn’t have any particular plan on how far we would go. At 1pm we had covered 18 miles easily and felt good. We worked out that the LA Camping & RV Resort was exactly 26.2 miles away from where we camped previously and suddenly it became our goal. What a great way to celebrate 1 month on trail.

We rolled into camp feeling elated. Our bodies had just covered a marathon on uneven, hilly terrain with 18kg on our backs. This felt like a big achievement, especially considering the patchwork of blisters on my feet. This meant we had a nice easy day for tomorrow: just 10 miles. Then we planned to move on to our best side quest yet!