Spartan Hike - Day 12

 Hiker, and co-founder of American Spartan Inc, Captain Tommy Muir, continues to keep us updated on the day-to-day of the 425+ mile Spartan Hike, via emails spent from his phone.

"Sorry, as I'm doing all of this from my phone sometimes it doesn't go as planned. Here's the recap.

Day 12 started out much cooler than anything we had experienced since Half Moon Bay ten days prior. We broke down our frost covered tents, ate breakfast and quickly got to the days starting point as we had someone we were meeting for an interview and photo op. We were just north of the town of Cambria at San Simeon State Park and had been approached the previous evening, while gasing up the vehicles, by a little girl and her mother who said they had seen us hiking. 

The little girl wanted to do an article, for a school project, on us for the front page of the Cambria newspaper. We got to the starting point and set in on the days 19 miles and about a quarter of a mile into it, there she was camera in hand. She took some pictures, got a few quotes and certainly impressed each one of us with quite the go getter attitude that is seldom seen in someone her age. The days miles went by quick and relatively painfree as things have become pretty flat now that we  are out of Big Sur. 

We got to our campsite, set up our tents and started preparing dinner. In the midst of the action we failed to immediately notice that we had a new two legged friend moving amongst us. Every turkey I have ever encountered in the wild has great ears and even better eyes for humans and they quickly head in the other direction once they detect us. Not this guy, he came within inches of us and at one point we thought he was going to hop into a bag chair and join us around the fire. He hung around until dusk, when he decided to fly, even though he appeared too heavy for lift off, to a branch thirty feet off the ground in a pine tree. After some obvious jokes, the topic of discussion quickly turned to those who've gone before us and upon whom the legacy of a Marine Corps infantrymen is built. They weren't the first nor the last, but the men who hit the beach on the island of Iwo Jima 66  years ago fought one of the hardest battles in the Corps' illustrious career and as the flag was raised on that tiny little island in the Pacific 66 years ago today, we discussed how priviliged we felt to wear the same uniform."

         Tommy Muir