Today we slept in after our super long, emotional, and physically taxing day yesterday. The sun still wasn't too hot, and the miles flew by. Soon we could see Highway 178 in the distance, where we were planning on hitching out to Lake Isabella, 35 miles west.
A great unexpected lunch!!
Yogi!
Frank and Roro
Yummy!
About a mile from the highway, we saw the trail split for Walker Pass Campground and a little cardboard sign saying "Trail magic at the campground." We could see some cars in the parking lot and a lot of hikers under two big canopies, so we headed down.
We were met by a jolly older man who said, "Guys, I got a serious problem; you have to help me eat all this food!" Sure enough, there was spaghetti, salad, avocado, cookies, chocolate cake, beers, and many other things!
We soon found out that the man was Meadow Ed himself. Meadow Ed is claimed by some people to be the first trail angel ever! He has completed the trail and is involved in helping people every year from Mojave to Kennedy Meadows. He has a character in the movie Wild, and he's in all 4 books that Claire and I read before starting the PCT.
It gets even better! There was a celerity chef cooking the spaghetti. It was Yogi! Jackie McDonnell, "Yogi", is the author of the Pacific Crest Trail Handbook. Many hikers buy this books each year, including Claire and I this year. It is an extremely helpful guide to the trail and details important waypoints and water sources, has detailed town guides with current addresses and business phone numbers, and also covers gear and everything else you need to know about the trail before you begin. We got to talk to her for a few minutes, and I even updated her about the new poodle-dog bush that has popped up in the burn area from mile 590-615. She said she'll make sure she updates that section to include that info for the 2017 edition!
With our bellies full and our minds still in awe from being star-struck, we offered to help clean up a bit and then kept on our way. There was still 1 mile to go before the highway and the day was heating up fast! We wanted to leave some extra time for the hitch into Lake Isabella in case it was a tough one.
Luckily, it wasn't! It was actually super easy! We popped out from the trail along the highway, making 5.43 miles for the day. There were already two hikers trying to hitch, David and Gilbert, and they informed us that they had already been waiting 35 minutes! About 30 seconds later, a minivan going the opposite direction pulled a u-turn and picked the four of us up!
Her name was Diane and her daughter is also hiking the PCT this year! David and Gilbert were headed 35 miles west to Lake Isabella, but I had been looking at Yogi's town guide and saw there was a KOA, (Kampgrounds of America), only 25 miles west! We asked if she could drop us off there and she did!
KOA's are awesome.. The one I stayed at near Acton was only $15 a night, this one was only $8! They have showers, laundry, a pool, a little store, a saloon, a game room, and lots of fun things you can rent out like adult tricycles and horse shoes and such.
Soon after checking in, we took a rinse in the showers and jumped straight into the pool! The day was super hot, and it felt good to sunbathe without hiking at the same time! After a while we just relaxed in the shade with a bunch of other hikers and just talked story for a while. Man, it sure is a rarity out here to completely relax..
Oh, so awesome news guys! So you know how those rodents ate up Claire's poles in the night? Well, she e-mailed the company Hiker Hunger who made the poles just to inquire and see if anything could be done. They are a small company and don't have a phone number online yet. We didn't expect a response since it was Sunday, but within the hour she received an e-mail back:
"Hey Claire!
What a bummer to hear! Haha I guess you just never know what might happen in the wild! We can ship you a new pair free of charge. Just give us a few days for them to arrive. We can ship them out so they'll be at Kennedy Meadows for you. Can you just give us your resupply address and expected date of arrival?
Keep on plugging along the PCT!
Rory"
These guys are so awesome!! Not only did they initially work with our tight schedule to get the poles out to Wrightwood, but now they're sending us new ones free of charge!! They don't even need the old ones back! How amazing.
After all the good news and excitement we decided to hitch two miles west to the grocery store to pick up some second lunch and dinner. We got a hitch pretty quickly with two other hikers.
Frank and his dog Roro picked us up and offered to take us to the grocery store 15 miles away all the way in Lake Isabella because it's bigger and cheaper. He waited there for us to shop and even took us back. Man, people are awesome!
At the store we got a few slices of premium turkey and muenster cheese and some other fresh ingredients and put together some awesome sandwiches back at the KOA.
I started our laundry while Claire jumped in the shower. It was only $1 to wash and $1 to dry and there was free soap! During that time I called my mom and sister and talked to them for a while. It felt good to be able to talk and catch up with family in a relaxing setting.
There are many of our friends here at the KOA, including Metro and BJ! The last time I saw them was when we all walked into Agua Dulce together, but then Claire and I left for three days with dad for the healing trip up to Yosemite! They had taken a few zeros in Tehachapi and we had caught up to them!
BJ had bought a bunch of things to cook on the camp's grill, hot dogs, burgers, and fresh corn. He also got a lot of potato salad and other things. We gave him the red onion, tomato, and lettuce that we had left over from our sandwiches, and joined them for some more food after our laundry was done! Eating all day, I could get used to this!
Well, today was awesome. Filled with good news and good people. Tomorrow we visit the post office for some packages and we resupply on food. We might stay tomorrow night here as well and leave on Tuesday. This place is so awesome and relaxing, and it's just what we needed after our toughest stretch yet.
-Thanks for reading!
Wow! Meadow Ed and Yogi!! How cool. It was great to talk to Claire on the phone last night. Phone conversations being very rare these days. Your stories of the generosity of people are inspiring and comforting, especially at this time. 😊❤️🙏
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