Saturday, October 7, 2017

Day 24 - Sept. 12

Ano Nuevo State Park to Half Moon Bay Francis Beach Campground

From my notes:

 "In the daylight the trail was easy to follow, made me glad I had waited, it would have been easy to step off into the abyss.
The trail eventually wound down to the beach. I tried to avoid walking through a stream but realized there was no way around it. I was reminded of the song "wade in the water," "if you're avoiding the trouble, it'll really be trouble."
I made it to the lighthouse hostel, where I had hoped to stay the night before. Recharged. I found myself jogging again after many slow walking days. I wanted to make it to a corner store before it closed at six. It was twelve miles up and would be my only chance for food and water on the coming twenty plus miles. I arrived at 5:45. It was an oasis complete with tie dye shirts, kale salad, and a basket of pins. Sifting through them I found, "Not all who wander are lost," in the same swirling shape as the CCT symbol.
It got dark, I worried a white van was following me. A car stopped to ask if I was okay and I told the driver, Oscar, about the van. He offered to drive behind me until I got to the highway. I had a security guard. Relieved. The trail turned to a residential area and then wound around the Ritz Carlton, where there seemed to be a conference. Guests laughed in circles on staggered patios lit with torches. I smiled at the contrast with my current situation. Following the path a few miles on I finished the day with 30 miles, right at a camp."


At the convenience store oasis I met a nice woman and a man who said he had seen me running earlier that day.  Luckily they warmed me on the way out that two road signs in the town had been swapped!  I couldn't believe it.  I would have gone off running in the wrong direction. 

The Ritz had specifically reminded me of my time doing research at the Simula Research Center in Norway one summer and fall during grad school.  I had gone on a trip with my then boyfriend from Germany to see the world cup final in Berlin.  Germany won and the city went crazy.  I had gotten us a free room at the Ritz Carlton in Berlin with the Marriott points I had earned during my internship with NASA, we had been housed at a Marriott for two months that summer and by the end we all had so many Marriott points we were Platinum Elite members.  I was in such a different position now.  


Trail notes:
"High tide near Pescadoro SB, could only do little part of beach segment, girls didn't do any of it, guide book said can't do it if high tide" -- the guidebook says, "Since the beach backs against high cliffs, don't go unless you're sure of the tides. If you have doubts, don't do it."




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