In the beautiful town of Wrightwood for a re-supply
First and foremost, I must thank my mother for going above and beyond with helping us out on our site. I get excited to come on and check our blog to see what we are up to! Terrific job mom, I love you.
We have made it to Wrightwood! Next stop will be Agua Dulce in the next 85 miles away. I am sitting at a cute little cafe, sipping free coffee for hikers (mmm… longtime with no coffee) and typing on a free internet laptop! Sooo much easier than the keys of an iphone! Today, we will do some grocery shopping and relaxing before setting back to the trail this evening. OK, now to the stories!
Below we have bits and pieces of journal entries from the past few days of hiking.
May 11, 2010: Gray Fox, Hot Springs, and our buddy Smile Train
“Wow what an eventful day of hiking! We hiked down to Deep Creek and followed the powerful flowing water for a majority of the day. Swift and I sing lots of songs together as we hike, and make up new ones line by line. The wildflowers that line the trail are smiling purple, blues, and gold. As we turned a bend in the trail, a Gray Fox was walking towards us! We figure he did not hear our approach because of the loud roar of water. He immediately darted off trail but then stopped, turned around, and stared at us for a good ten seconds. The three of us stood in silence, just staring with curiosity. Major wild animal highlight! Don’t get me wrong, the horned toad lizards and rattlesnakes are exciting, but it was nice to see another mammal besides humans!
Then, practically running up the trail, Smile Train entered our lives. A fast-talking, funny man from Minnesota who hiked the AT last year and has fallen in love with thru-hiking. He is a speed racer on the trail but slowed down to hike with us when he heard we were catching a ride to REI on Thursday since he too needed to go. We rolled along the river and came out of the mountains to the surrounding Mojave Reservoir, a dried up reservoir, before hiking 6 more miles (for a total of 23.5) and collapsing for the night. The LA glow seems to be starting to rise in the distance.” ~Buckeye
May 13, 2010: REI with Bill
“We woke up dry for the first time in a while! No dew equals whoo hoo! We fell asleep last night lying on the trail (the only flat spot we could find) and slept with the glow of LA as the backdrop of the mountain ranges to come. 2 miles away was interstate 15, Cajon Pass, where there was a McDonalds and Chevron Market loaded with high caloric food hikers dream of. I’ve never felt more sick after breakfast. We were picked up by Trail Angel Bill from Victorville, CA. He took us over to Rancho Cucamonga’s REI where Buckeye and I worked on our gear choices.” ~Buckeye
“We both knew before this adventure began that some of the littlest things have more significance than they do in the front country, and this we are continuing to realize this reality. Our comfort is based on the limited items that we manage to fit into our backpacks. We spent countless hours reading reviews, comparing prices, and testing products before making decisions about what to bring, but some things just couldn’t be predicted. To begin with- socks, Melissa has tried a half dozen pairs since we started and the only ones that had the right cushion, arch support, and wicking/drying ability was a pair of wool cycling socks that I brought just one pair of, this pair lasted about 50 miles before the heal and toe box became shreaded- how do
es she do it? Secondly- pants, we found that her zip-aways were giving her a raw spot from the tag, the zippers were rubbing her shins, and the stiching in the pockets gave her a rash, this didn’t all come about until the third week anniversary of departure. Another thing that is giving us something to think about is our sleeping system. Melissa and I are both giving second thought to our thermarests’, they are a bit heavy and bulky for the return, and Melissa is contemplating a warmer bag for the Sierra, not a bad idea since we have pushed her men’s 30 degree down to the limit on several occasions, leaving her shy of fantastic night’s sleep. I needed to switch over my shoes since the heel had already busted on my left shoe. We are happy to learn these lessons early on and continue to enjoy the trail.” ~Swift
“Bill dropped us off back at the trail in the afternoon, after his quick stop to go to a geo-cache, and we hiked late into the evening about 12 miles back up up up into the mountains. We had the entertainment of Smile Train along the way, who also came along with us to REI because he needed new shoes as well. We laughed into the sunset, and are presently falling asleep under the stars in a valley surrounded by high peaks. I went from a 45 degree rated bag for women to a 15 degree (the Marmot Phantom which only weighs 2lbs!) and I can not believe how warm and snuggly I am. No more wrestling with cold throughout the night.” ~Buckeye
May 14, 2010: Wrightwood
“We have arrived in the beautiful town of Wrightwood after a sunny day of hiking about 8,000 ft next to Mt. Baldy’s Peak. The Hardware store here has a booklet of town angels – families who open their homes to hikers to take showers, do laundry, and eat square meals. Susan and Ray are loving souls with sons Noah (12) and Logan (2) who are hosting not only myself, Swift and Smile Train, but 10 other hikers as well in their townhouse!
Of course food is always on our minds. When we arrived, we hate huge bacon cheeseburgers with salads, pizza rolls for a snack, and then enjoyed Mile High Pizza’s $20 family dinner of 6 sodas, cheese sticks, salad, and a large pizza.” ~Buck
0 Comments