Jun 20-21 - Hiking on the Solstice - from mile 609

So, I have a dilemma; is the solstice on June 20th or 21st this year?   No cell coverage so I can't check.  So it's a good thing I have sun screen with me for these past two days.  Wednesday was a good day hiking.  It was hot with a little wind but still every ridge had wind mills.  Just when you think you are done another set of them comes up around the next bend.

Met a girl named Dizzy?, who just started hiking the trail the day before.  She has 30 days of food.  I passed her and two other hikers who joined her to hike together for a while.  They asked me how far the next spring was and I told them 10 miles and asked if they needed any water and they said they were fine.  When I reached the spring I rested out of the sun for over three and a half hours and never saw them catch up.  Hope they are ok. 

Thursday is day two of my so-called Solstice hiking: time for more sunscreen!  Meet a section hiker, who said he found Dizzy and one of the other two laying on the side of the trail exhausted and out of water still far from yesterdays spring.  He gave them some water and later found the third hiker near the spring who was planning to bring them back more water.  He said he got to the spring about an hour after I left yesterday.    Good news is they are fine.  And even better news is that he confirmed, he checked by car before starting his hike, that the next two water caches are fully stocked with water.  As I enter the wooded area I plan to camp in I have this feeling of being watched.  I stop and look into the woods and see strange looking tree limbs - no wait; they are deer feet.  There are deer hiding all around me!  Very cool.