Day 38 - Wrightwood / When It's Good, It's Great
I slept in good this morning. The wind was blowing hard, but nestled behind that hemlock, my tent was blocked from most of it. There were a few stray gusts from the side that hit it hard. One pulled out the stake holding the left side trekking pole, but luckily I was on the other side of the tent. It just made my tent a 1 person tent basically, so I decided I didn't care. There was no chance of rain and I had enough room still to breathe and sleep. I put it up next time I had to pee in the night.
I was laying there thinking about moving when Matt let me know they were getting ready. I didn't have much water, so I ate my suicide Oreos. Suicide Oreos are what you save for that day you want to throw yourself off a cliff. You just eat them instead. I figured I was in the clear for this stretch since we were going into town. I had wanted to eat them last night as a reward for a long day, but I was too tired to find them.
The morning was less windy, clear blue skies and bright sun. Gorgeous. Snow on the far mountains. The perfect temperature for hiking, nice and cool. We had a few easy miles of hiking to the Guffy Spring and we took our time, enjoying the morning. It was one of those mornings to savor and remember. The spring was a bit of a hike down, but we were all out of water. We lounged there for a while, and I took the insoles out of my shoes and taped them where they were wearing through. They had given me blisters on each foot yesterday. About 420 miles total on this pair, since they had 60 on them prior to the PCT. I'd say the Altra Lone Peaks performed great. Can't expect such a light shoe to last forever, and the tread is still there.
We continued through more lovely pine and cedar forest, and the views opened up at Guffy Campground. It's a great stretch of trail. We saw many dayhikers, and we decided it was probably best to day hike the PCT. Skip all the long water carry sections, just drive an Airstream from one great section to the next. Oh well, I guess we're just not smart enough to figure that one out beforehand.
There were patches of snow on the ground, none too difficult and the longest was 15 feet. Some patches were slushy in the sun and some were in shadow and still hard. We saw a few ski lifts and some water reservoirs on top of the mountain, a local hiker told us they were for making snow and fire fighting.
The trail had a good amount of climbing today. We reached Highway 2 and while I used the pit toilet, some thru hikers got dropped off and Matt got us a ride from the guy that dropped them off.
He brought us to Mountain Hardware, a hardware store that has a free PCT pin for hikers, a hiker box and backpacking supplies. I needed a trowel for cathole digging, and I found a pretty light plastic gardening trowel. It'll do for now. It has a five inch long digging surface. I'm gonna dig some nice catholes with this.
Matt had been texting Amy, the trail angel we met at the water cache. She offered for us to stay at her house in Wrightwood for a night and she would make us more smoothies. Yes! You don't turn down awesome smoothies. Amy and her husband Brian picked us up and took us to their house. They have a sweet big dog and a skittish dog that barks at us. They had our resupply packages. Ian had sent me another pair of shoes, and he packaged it with granola bars. So much food. There was also new socks and a larger battery for charging my phone. Yes!
They took us to the grocery store, where I spent all of $3.50 on a banana, a pint of strawberries and an apple.
We picked up two more hikers, Daniel and Dr. Pain. Daniel is vegan, too. Amy and Brian hooked us up. Amazingly delicious tofu, veggies, potatoes, vegan cornbread, vegan ice cream and cookies for dessert. Oh, and good bread for an appetizer. It was so nice to hang out with this group, joking about pooping on the trail among other topics. The best trail angels so far. After a shower and being stuffed with food, I can hear my clothes in the dryer while I wear a borrowed old shirt and pajamas, sleeping on my air mattress on their living room floor. Life is good today.
I was laying there thinking about moving when Matt let me know they were getting ready. I didn't have much water, so I ate my suicide Oreos. Suicide Oreos are what you save for that day you want to throw yourself off a cliff. You just eat them instead. I figured I was in the clear for this stretch since we were going into town. I had wanted to eat them last night as a reward for a long day, but I was too tired to find them.
The morning was less windy, clear blue skies and bright sun. Gorgeous. Snow on the far mountains. The perfect temperature for hiking, nice and cool. We had a few easy miles of hiking to the Guffy Spring and we took our time, enjoying the morning. It was one of those mornings to savor and remember. The spring was a bit of a hike down, but we were all out of water. We lounged there for a while, and I took the insoles out of my shoes and taped them where they were wearing through. They had given me blisters on each foot yesterday. About 420 miles total on this pair, since they had 60 on them prior to the PCT. I'd say the Altra Lone Peaks performed great. Can't expect such a light shoe to last forever, and the tread is still there.
We continued through more lovely pine and cedar forest, and the views opened up at Guffy Campground. It's a great stretch of trail. We saw many dayhikers, and we decided it was probably best to day hike the PCT. Skip all the long water carry sections, just drive an Airstream from one great section to the next. Oh well, I guess we're just not smart enough to figure that one out beforehand.
There were patches of snow on the ground, none too difficult and the longest was 15 feet. Some patches were slushy in the sun and some were in shadow and still hard. We saw a few ski lifts and some water reservoirs on top of the mountain, a local hiker told us they were for making snow and fire fighting.
The trail had a good amount of climbing today. We reached Highway 2 and while I used the pit toilet, some thru hikers got dropped off and Matt got us a ride from the guy that dropped them off.
He brought us to Mountain Hardware, a hardware store that has a free PCT pin for hikers, a hiker box and backpacking supplies. I needed a trowel for cathole digging, and I found a pretty light plastic gardening trowel. It'll do for now. It has a five inch long digging surface. I'm gonna dig some nice catholes with this.
Matt had been texting Amy, the trail angel we met at the water cache. She offered for us to stay at her house in Wrightwood for a night and she would make us more smoothies. Yes! You don't turn down awesome smoothies. Amy and her husband Brian picked us up and took us to their house. They have a sweet big dog and a skittish dog that barks at us. They had our resupply packages. Ian had sent me another pair of shoes, and he packaged it with granola bars. So much food. There was also new socks and a larger battery for charging my phone. Yes!
They took us to the grocery store, where I spent all of $3.50 on a banana, a pint of strawberries and an apple.
We picked up two more hikers, Daniel and Dr. Pain. Daniel is vegan, too. Amy and Brian hooked us up. Amazingly delicious tofu, veggies, potatoes, vegan cornbread, vegan ice cream and cookies for dessert. Oh, and good bread for an appetizer. It was so nice to hang out with this group, joking about pooping on the trail among other topics. The best trail angels so far. After a shower and being stuffed with food, I can hear my clothes in the dryer while I wear a borrowed old shirt and pajamas, sleeping on my air mattress on their living room floor. Life is good today.
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