Days 17-21

Day 21: June 12, mile 471.4- 502.4, 31 miles
I was the first one out of camp in the morning and hiked about 7.5 miles by myself to the fire station above green valley. I hung out at a water cache for half an hour before a few other hikers arrived. We were getting ready to head out when some other folks arrived. Flavo, who I had met and been leapfrogging for a bit, and I started talking about our past trips to Patagonia. It turns out we had been there about the same time and done some similar hikes. Very small world. I headed out from the fire station and started what turned into a long climb up and over some mountains. It was hot, we were getting tired. We were closing into a road with a potential hitch to a town and found that there was trail magic for hikers! They had a full spread, soda, chips, veggies, watermelon, and even beer!! We hung out with some other hikers and after a couple hours we decided it was time to start getting going again. It was hot and the climb out was tough. 1.5mi out was a small spring I was counting on. It had a low flow rate which made me nervous about the upcoming desert stretch to Kennedy Meadows. Those three beers hit rather uncomfortably and the rest of the afternoon I was feeling it. We hiked up and up until we started following a ridge. We were in and out of burn areas and nice forest. We crossed mile 500 around 8pm and camped near a water cistern with a great view looking out over the Mojave Valley.

Day 20: June 11, mile 444.2- 471.4, 27.2 miles
Hiked out too much food and last night’s leftover pizza. Had good conversation with Margot in the morning climbing out of the KOA then through Vazquez Rocks. Some plants were labeled and we snacked on some juniper berries and Mormon tea. I also packed out a couple beers, not wanting em to go to waste and had a couple morning beers on the walk. Woohoo!! We had a great breakfast at homemade something in Agua Dulce. I ate huevos rancheros and had some good coffee. Our server was awesome too! We stopped at the hardware store and chatted with some cool folks there. We got back on trail but had a longer road walk in the heat. As we left the road things really started to heat up on the dusty trail. We met another hiker and found some shade on top of a ridge. Sweet spot. We then had a meandering descent to a water cache (thank goodness for that) then a longer climb up and over a ridge. We camped in a cool twisty oak forest. It reminded me of the enchanted forest of the Casa de Luna trail angels just a bit further than where we are camping, though their hosting days are over. Throughout the day I ate only two bars from my food bag but like 8 pieces of leftover pizza that was pretty heavy. It kinda hurt but I think a nice accomplishment to eat basically only pizza and huevos rancheros.



Day 19: June 10, mile 430.4- 444.2, 13.8 miles
The night was cold. I didn’t sleep well but when it was time to get out of bed I was slow. We were only going 14 miles to the Acton KOA. I had to get walking right away to stay warm so I hiked to a seasonal stream, pulled some water from a trickle (3minutes/liter!) And made some coffee in my cold soak container and had a sweet treat. Interesting notes of soy sauce in the coffee, I guess I didn’t rinse out my container well enough. Amanda caught up and we hiked to a fire station for a quick break. I used the pit toilet and when I came out John and Cricket had arrived. We chatted a bit then headed onto Acton. Good conversation with them while walking to the KOA. We arrived a bit after noon. I ate a pint of ice cream and some chips while hanging with other hikers. I met a few other hikers I hadn’t met before but had heard of, including some folks of “the blob” a 10 person trail family. I picked up my resupply box (new shoes, yay!) and sorted my food. In the afternoon we went swimming which was awesome. Then we ordered pizza, picked up some beer and had a grand ol’ time with other hikers. Pizza came way late and wasn’t all of our order, total mess! After dinner we headed to bed.


Day 18: June 9, mile ~397- 430.4, ~33 miles
Even though we hiked late last night, we got up early to hike. We did about a mile of roadwalking then joined the PCT at mile 398. The trail crossed the road a few times then we found ourselves at three points, where lots of hikers have been hitching around the fire closures, not us!! We found a hiker box and I picked up a glass jar of mushrooms…. Not the lightest add on, but I figured it would be good for dinner. We hiked a bit further to a spring and grabbed some water. We had planned on taking a break there but there wasn’t enough shade. We hiked about a mile further to a nice shady area and ate and napped for a couple hours. The nap was especially nice after a long night hike and a few hours of sleep. We took a bit to get going again and set our sights on the fire station with water. We arrived around 5 or so and chatted with Professor, another hiker. Margot and Amanda set their sights on a campground 13 miles away from where we were. We set off, passed mile 420, and walked on through the sunset. We pushed to the campground arriving around 10pm. Night hiking can be tough but it should pay off tomorrow when we head into town.


Day 17: June 8, mile 369.3- ~397, 17 PCT miles + ~5mi of roadwalk.
We slept in at Will and Krystal’s place in wrightwood then had a leisurely start to the day. We packed our packs and made pancakes and eggs in their kitchen. They were awesome hosts and I wish we had more time to talk. We left around 11 and headed to the hardware store in town. We were able to catch a ride to the trailhead from a guy I met yesterday. Super cool to chat with him and we were grateful to have the ride. At the drop-off, I saw JZ and Cricket who he’s hiking with. Amanda and Vicky were also there. We took off in a mega group and chatted. Super fun to be hiking with a group like that. We summited Baden Powell and hung out a bit on the top. Another group of 4 we knew and had seen in town last night caught up to us. It seems like our mega group of ~12 is going to be at the Acton KOA around the same time, so I’m starting the rumor of a pool party since their pool will be open! I had a great time chatting with JZ and Cricket as well as the others. At the little Jimmy Spring, the best spring in the desert section, we hung out and talked a bit. Amanda and Margot took off and Matt and I hiked out together. We caught up to them at a picnic area around 815 after hiking through a maybe closed burn area?? We never saw any signs about the closure though. After everyone ate, the 4 of us hiked another couple hours on Hwy 2 to avoid the signed fire and frog closure. We had excellent conversation and a good time hiking the road. Saw very few vehicles and they all were driving slow. We are sleeping at a day use area and in the morning I can use a pit toilet and picnic table! It’s great hiking with a group, especially 4 of us and a few more folks around.