Day 5.  Leaving Julian we had a famous Trail Angel (someone who helps hikers) named “The Professor” [a beautifully strange man and is certainly autistic] scheduled to give us a ride at 8:00.  So me, John, Tim, and Frenchie went ahead and got another meal in town to start us off.  I crushed my second Chicken and Waffles of the stay and was almost moved to tears again. (Mainly because they give a thorough relapse to my butter addiction)

On the trail we began the long and gradual ascent again.  On this occasion, for the first time since the start of the trip we put in headphones.  I am proud we made it 5 days of just talking, but man did it feel good to have music for a brutal uphill.  

-With the combination of music and a full stomach we crushed another 24, effectively neutralizing our 11 mile resupply night in Julian and keeping our average mileage at 20.  

Day 6

We wake up and for the first time there is some sign of weather—a deep fog descended over the mountains.  This made for a confusing wake up, a remarkably pleasant morning, and my favorite pictures of the trip yet.  Also on this morning we passed the famous “Eagle Rock” and our first natural stream of the trail!  

We then stop at Warner Springs which is only a half mile off trail for a half resupply and some microwave pizzas while we wait out the mid day heat before crossing out further into the vast expanse.  We end up camping at a dry campsite but one overlooking the cliff, we get our first sunset of the trip and I begin to remember the numinous beauty of the terrain.  

Day 7

Once more we wake up to clouds over our campsite and begin hiking.  We begin to enter some truly strange parts of the trail—the wilderness is a strange mix of industrial, desert, and I don’t know what else.  

We power our way 9 miles to Mike’s place which is itself strange but of course such a blessing to have water offered.  

Than we push another 12 miles into the strangest looking thing yet. A half mile off the trail there is what looks like Spawn Ranch from Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.  There are people in their underwear, a brown pool, broken flapping tents, an abandoned looking trailer, and a half dozen dogs of all different kinds.  —I eventually realize that the people in their underwear are hikers drying from their swim, and rather than being hippies for being in their underwear they are actually conservative for wearing any clothes at all. 

 [{Of course I use the word conservative loosely as most people seem astonished or even hurt to see a person hiking with a cross and flag}]

-And the owner is not some druggie but a kind mexican veteran who is just extremely friendly and ALSO hates the government.  The multitude of dogs is so they can team up to hunt coyotes.  Stop Judging Henry

We leave this strange place to try to get a few miles further and maybe more normal to sleep—but the strangeness is not over.  We see a what looks like a combination of a Middle Eastern Royalty’s Oasis and something from Burning Man.  Several tents aligned together, books, couches and chairs all just a couple hundred yards off the trail.  Clearly it had been quite the party spot weeks ago according to the evidence of beer cans in the trash bins, but now in the late season it was abandoned.  

-And most importantly, because there was tents already set up, I didn’t have to take ours down for the morning and I slept all the better!

Day 8

In the morning I found out that this Oasis also had an Archery Range!! So I had some good fun while John taped up his 8 blisters.  9 Miles later we got to the road where we walked a mile off trail to paradise valley cafe and crushed a monster breakfast and then desserts once lunch came around. 

After our massive lunch we began our climb up to 9,000 ft.  This climb is absolutely beautiful and is a true diamond in the desert.  There was views, wind, cliffs, everything.  I was absolutely invigorated.  Eventually the wind turned dangerous and the cool air turned to freezing.  I may have overestimated the safety of our camping site and we had to push chic her in some seriously legit weather.  

By the end of this very long day we were seriously limping, had there not been this storm coming on we would have surely camped on the side of the trail but I had read about a spot by a cave where we would be protected.  

We finally got there just as the last light was fading, we could hear the wind howling above but it wasn’t hitting us.  Finally it was cold enough for me to really sleep well!!

(I tried to underplay the prescience of mice to John)

Day 9

At about 5 am I rolled over to a wide awake John, he hadn’t slept as well as I had…. To make matters worse it looked like his feet might be actually injured, those miss had been making noise all night, his food bag had been chewed through, and in our haste to safety last night we had bypassed the water source.  But on the bright side there had been so much ice in the clouds we could get some water from the bush icicles!

Those were the longest 8 miles maybe ever.  We practically crawled our pace was so slow.  Finally we reached some water to filter, drank and improved marginally.

The last 2.5 mile trail down to town descended several thousand feet and that was brutal too.  Infinite credit is deserved by John, he was beyond beat up by the trail and didn’t complain once.  He also did 180 miles wearing borrowed Keens!  

—In Idylkwild we enjoyed our first shower of the trail, some hot food, and our first bed in some time.  

Having a friend join me was absolutely everything, starting this trail alone would have been infinitely harder than what was already difficult.  Good laughs, shared misery, and even the occasional opportunity to have expertise lifted my spirits in more ways than John will ever know.  

^hiking with a buddy is the best

The trail will get harder, darker, and stranger in this next phase.  I pray all these things work in the service of my growth however it may go.

The adventure continues!

Stay tuned to hear what happens….

(in the future-expect updates to be more thoughtful and less daily details)