Day 19 – Monday, June 12
Day Total: 25.8 Miles
We've started trying to hike an hour before eating breakfast. It makes packing up a bit quicker and gets us about three miles, depending on terrain, before we stop. An hour into the day is also about when I need to lather on the first layer of sunscreen.
We stopped at a water cache with a trail register (a notebook where people make a comment with the date they were they) for breakfast and sized up the rest of the day. It had 6,000 feet of elevation gain and, while munching on my Snickers and honey bun at breakfast, I was a little intimidated. It turned out to be a really nice day with somewhat pleasant temperatures.
The grade of the trail made the thousands of feet of gain bearable. At times we've wondered if higher elevation would mean cooler temperatures or that we'll just be closer to the sun. Today it meant cooler temperatures.
We passed a couple of other thru-hikers over the course of the day and had a late lunch near the top of the climb under a big tree. As much as I hate to admit it, we complained about being chilly in the shade.
As I was liberally applying what is always an insufficient amount of sunscreen Kelly informed me a lizard was in my pack. I stopped putting on sunscreen immediately. The way our packs are designed, there's mesh between the back of the pack and where the pack sits on our backs. It creates a couple of inches of space for air to flow between the pack and our backs and is, usually, delightful.
This time it became an impromptu terrarium. The poor little guy jumped in from the side of my pack off a log and couldn't find any grip to get out and slid to the bottom corner of this in-between space.
Southern California!
I flipped my pack upside down and while my platypus bag, water bottle, dirty socks, first aid bag, and camp shoes fell out, lizard did not. After beating in the bottom of the pack, we got a stick and tried to scoop the now terrified lizard out. No luck.
A passive approach was needed. I placed the pack on it's side and asked Kelly to not take her eyes off my bag until it became reptile free while I went back to bathing in sunscreen. After a few moments, and after recovering from the percussive torture and prodding, our 'zard friend gained purchase and scurried out.
With that excitement over we were able to throw our packs on and finish of the few miles left to the Highway 2 road crossing where we'd hitch into Wrightwood, California.
In the last couple of miles we crossed under ski lifts before hitting the highway.
After a few minutes we realized no cars were going the direction we were headed and the prospect of a five-mile road walk was becoming real. A few runners about to head up the trail informed us that there was a sinkhole further up the highway closing it a couple of miles from where we were.
Southern California!
Fortunately, a car appeared from somewhere and a very friendly couple drove us into town.
At the water cache in the morning there was a sign with some things that might interest hikers about Wrightwood. Chief among those things listed that piqued our interest was a Monday taco special at the Yodeler.
Once we were in town, we did not pass go, we did not collect $200, we went directly to the Yodeler. There we ran into two other hikers, Baby Squirrel and Sarah, that we hadn't seen since Warner Springs roughly 250 miles before. We were all very excited to see each other and have cheap tacos.
After a bit of wandering around we were put in touch with a trail angel, Rich, who put us up for the night and let us shower. Since Rich had to work early in the morning, he was already asleep when we got in and left for work before we got up ourselves, so we never actually met or spoke to him.
Another hiker, Smokebeard, was already there established on the couch gave us a quick rundown of the place. I suppose there's a small chance we just walked into a random house in Wrightwood, showered, and slept, but in a town like Wrightwood I don't think that would have really been a problem. And if Rich sees this, thanks!
Comments
Post a Comment