My day started shakily, waking up anxious for no apparent reason. It took me 30 mins to get out of bed.

Steve, one of the hosts at Mountain Valley Retreat, cooked me an amazing smashed avocado and eggs on toast, and that combined with fresh coffee lightened me slightly. He also dropped me at the trailhead saving me a couple of miles unnecessary walk.

The temperature is up today; more like what I was seeing a week ago. To avoid the peak heat I put in 8 miles to Warner Springs stopping only at the iconic ‘Eagle Rock’ where I met ‘Say it again’… again. I also bumped into Steve and Noelle, a couple from Portland I’d met before. Steve’s words were “there’s something different….. you don’t smell …. have you showered?!”

The meadows outside Warner Springs were in superbloom due to the unusual winter rainfall.

Now for Fargo fans everywhere, I present John from Brainerd! That really made my day.

Back to the walk. The meadows around Warner Springs were a gorgeous carpet of flowers for miles and miles. If that wasn’t enough, I also had a woodland walk with bubbling creeks.

The good folks of Warner Springs maintain a community run resource centre close to the trail. They have everything a hiker needs, good resupply food, coffee, room to sit and relax and places to charge electronics. Any profits go to the local school.

I met up with quite a number of hikers taking a rest there, too many to list. Of note, though, were the Liverpudlians I met before who were taking an enforced break after their tent pole snapped in the recent winds!

The heat was up so I mooched around for a couple of hours in the centre. Any thoughts I had of leaving evaporated when a local came in and announced that he would be cooking burgers and hotdogs at 4pm! It was a much appreciated boost.

After the food, a few of us planned to hike on a few miles so I joined Alex, Sam and Tim for an extra 5.5 miles to camp next to Agua Caliente Creek.

The next civilization is the Paradise Café, 36 miles distant, so I have 4 days supplies to be sure. More interesting is the water situation – after we leave the creek there is very little. What there is has comments like ‘for the love of God, don’t get water here’!

I think I’ll set off with 6 litres then!