Day 51- June 9th

Just like we planned we woke up bright and early at 5:30am and we were on the trail by 6:45! It was actually pretty chilly of a morning as we kept hiked through the burn section.

We came across a cool area where the trail followed along the burn line and eventually we dipped into the forested valley to our left. 

Looking up the trail. Burn on the left, green on the right

From everything I'd heard about this section I thought it's majority would be dry sand and shrubs only, but to our surprise we had a nice wooded forest for the rest of the day! 

We climbed waaaaaay up into the grassed area and away from the burn. Being in trees for a change felt super nice, and even though it was an intense climb, the spotted shade made it just a bit easier.

We hiked and hiked and hiked. We met a hiker couple named Lily and "Cloak of Chillness", right after they had a very close call with a 3 foot rattler. Claire and I didn't get to see the snake but we definitely heard Lily's shriek! 

Cloak got his trail name at Casa de Luna when he put on one of the aloha shirts and, instantly relaxed, said "Wow, it feels like I just put on a cloak of chillness.." Terrie Anderson decided then that that would be his name.

We took a few small breaks, but nothing too long. When noon hot we had already hiked 11 miles!! Shortly after we were rewarded with this:

Super pumped, almost a 1/4 way done with the whole hike! Haha. That's a crazy thought, we've already been out here 50 days and we're ALMOST a 1/4 of the way done... Luckily, we're moving fast now, and with the temperate flatness of Oregon we're expecting to make 20+ miles everyday!

(Of course every once in a while we have to venture off-trail a bit to kick some dandelion seeds into the wind)

We pulled into Robin Bird Spring at about 2pm for a late lunch and a nice long break. Ruth-Anne and Mark were there, as well as Dad and Glide, who we had met out of Cajon pass and also who had given me some food when I ran out before coming into Acton KOA.

We got water from the SUPER cold piped spring, even washed off our feet and socks from the little trickle-stream down below. We had decided to leave at 4, but something made us stay awhile longer..

It was Siri!!! The hiker who had just given us a ride out of Mojave three days ago! He had brought the rental car back up way up a dirt mountain road, and then had bushwhacked about 1/4 mile to find the PCT and where it met Robin Spring.

He greeted us and invited us all to follow him back up to his car for cold soda and snacks! 

Siri and I. With Ruth-Anne on the left

Claire and I each had some Fanta's and I enjoyed some strawberry pop tarts. A novelty that I normally don't bring on trail due to their crush-factor. We chatted with Siri for a bit and he informed us about the status of some upcoming water sources, as he had visited them earlier today.

He took 3 hikers back with him off the trail. "Dad" and another hiker were both sick and throwing up, maybe suffering from dehydration? Another girl Leilani was having repetitive ankle trouble.

Claire and I thanked Siri and have our best wishes that we would once again see him on the trail. We headed back to the spring to wrap up our stuff. At about 5pm we were back on our way!

We only had 6.5 miles to the next water source, where we planned to stay the night. We arrived by 8pm and filtered 4 liters of water each. We're getting an early sleep again tonight and are planning to do a similar day tomorrow, maybe a few less miles.

 We did 21.03 miles today! It's our 4th 20+ mile day on the trip, and our bodies feel super good about it! We're thankful for all the trees and shade today and our spirits are super high!

-Thanks for reading!