Day 22- May 11th

Guys, crazy dream last night; so in my dream I open the pop tart packet that I bought at Ziggy and The Bear's and it's cinnamon instead of strawberry! Nooooo! 

So then, I wake up. Now knowing that Claire opened her packet yesterday and it was strawberry, and since we bought both packets at Ziggy and The Bear's little store, they must be the same. I tell Claire about my silly dream as I open my pop tart packet for breakfast. It's cinnamon!! Whaaaaat?!? Mind blown.

Anyway, we wake up in the most beautiful campsite so far on the trail like I described yesterday. Except for this morning, before 8am it was already close to 75 degrees.

Beautiful! 

A Teehee in a Teepee!

Since Josh is joining us on the alternate route around the fire closure, we all left the beautiful place together. We climbed up a really big climb and then went down into a nicely marked valley. We walked 1.54 miles on the PCT and then turned off towards Mission Creek Stone House.

The PCT is closed about 10 miles past where we got off. Most hikers are skipping the whole thing and hitching up to Big Bear, a few hikers are hiking straight through the closure and risking a $2,500 fine (supposedly), and even fewer hikers are walking the 45 mile (mostly road) alternate around 42 miles of the PCT.

So long story short, we walked on roads today. A LOT. After filling up our water at the spigot at the Stone House, we followed the dirt road out of the preserve, did a little short-cut bushwhacking, and met with Route 62.

A 50 ft wide median made for a pretty safe travel on foot. There's Mount San Jacinto in the back! 

Soon the median ended, where 62 snakes through the mountains, but low and behold at the same time emerged the old Route 62, now just an old wash below the new highway.

I like to refer to this part of our "trail" as the wash of death... The day was heating up rapidly, near 90 degrees, our umbrellas were out in full force, yet the hot glassy deep sand in the wash made for painstakingly slow and hot progress.

At least we weren't alone! We had caught up to a couple who had met each other on the trail about 8 days ago. Now our group was 5 people strong!

Finally after a few miles the wash went under the current highway, (where we rested in the resulting shade), and then up to connect to a residential road. Here we encountered a couple of loose dogs, one who followed us barking for waaaaaaay too long..

Finally we reached a hint of civilization, in the means of food and beverage services instead of just 80mph cars whizzing by on a road cut through the desert: a Circle K. For those of you reading in Hawaii: Circle K = 7 eleven (sort of)

We gorged ourselves! Fresh smart water bottles, extra large icees for 89 cents, and you best believe some candy..

After that "appetizer", we continued on to Willie Boys Saloon for lunch! We got the suggesting from a kind lady at the Circle K, who told us to go there and then even called them so they could set up a table for us! 

The people there were so nice! We each got cold beers and got ready for some BBQ! I had the slow roasted brisket with BBQ beans and cornbread, soooooo yummy!

Yum yum yum!!

Ruby and Travis! The "new" trail couple

A quite full Claire and Josh

Bellies SUPER full, we continued on Route 62, this was definitely tied with the wash of death for my least favorite part of the day. With only a six foot shoulder, we chipped away at the miles. Claire stayed busy by staying nice and balanced:

Every once in a while we stopped to discuss where we should camp for the night. The Travelodge was still 6 miles away and it was after 6pm, not really an option as we had already hiked over 15 miles, straight through the hottest time of day.. All the land around us was private, most lots marked with "Do Not Enter" and "No Trespassing"

Just as things were shaping up to be a looooong miserable night, our salvation arrived: "Saltlick" and Evelyn.

These trail angels pulled up on the shoulder and Saltlick got out to talk to us. She had a trail name because she has done the whole Appalachian Trail and finished the PCT last year! She asked us if we needed a place to stay for the night and told us she could drop us back off at the same spot early tomorrow morning!

It was so awesome! Her girlfriend Evelyn drove us up to their house where they showed us our home for the night: The Sun Room. 

We charged our phones and took showers! Ahhhhh, my second real shower of the whole PCT! Yeah, I smell good right now :)

Saltlick talked to us about her experiences last year on the PCT, and we swapped some crazy stories with each other. Claire and I are realizing that we already have some pretty cool stories even though it's super early on in our adventure! 

She also told us the story behind her trail name: last year she was hiking up the steep climb from Hauser Creek (mile 15.5), and working up a sweat. When she reached Lake Morena (mile 20.0), they were giving out free burritos. 

She said hers was bland so she just took some salt from her sweaty face and spiced it up a bit! Six or seven other hikers witnessed the event and viola! Saltlick was born.

A freshly showered Claire, David, Josh, and Saltlick

So now we're here chilling in their home, such kind people we meet on the trail, people that give so much to us and expect nothing in return. True trail angels.. I appreciate these people so much and am pleased that they exist in this world! 

Well, the mileage for today sits at about 16 miles! It's a little hard to say exactly because the alternate doesn't have specific mileage points like the PCT does on my phone, but we're about a third some of the 45 miles :) This might be the latest I've been blogging 10:50pm, gotta hit the hay!

-Thanks for reading!