Day 26! 23.45 miles!!

And he’s back!! After an amazing evening summit of Baden Powell two nights ago, but almost no sleep, and then a long, hard day with no energy, I finally got some great sleep last night and I feel 100% again! :)

I slept in just a tad as it was still pretty cold and I’ve found that your body has the ultimate day out here: if it’s too tired to get up and needs an extra hour of sleep, you gotta do it or you’ll be sorry!! Can’t be hiking multiple big/challenging days if you’re not fully rested you know?

Anyway, I left camp around 7:00am, and as always, the morning was beautiful!

I started a long climb and soon passed an area where I remember meeting Goaltech two years ago! I’ve mentioned him a few times in this blog, but basically, he’s a section-hiker that’s hiking the entire PCT southbound, handing out chips and other trail magic goodies to all the Nirthbound hikers he passes as he goes along! He really saved us on a hard morning when spirits were waaaaaay down in 2016! 

Oh yeah! 400 miles in 3.5 weeks?!? 

Somebody tell this guy Canada ain’t going anywhere!

(Jk, don’t, I hate it when people say that :p)

I climbed up and down to Glenwood Camp, the site of the first water source of the day. I saw a few other hikers sitting on a picnic table and saw a familiar sight! More trail magic! (I’m getting SPOILED out here!)

Max

Awesome doggie, I forgot her name!

Max is basically in charge of Glenwood camp. He works at REI down in LA and had spent the night in the cabin and was giving out beer and hotdogs and sausages to hungry and thirsty hikers before he went to work today! What a great guy! He also had an amazing old, sweet dog pictured above. I forgot her name!

With new found energy, I thanked Max and headed back out to the trail! The trail meandered across highway 2 twice more today, which is nice because usually there’s toilets and trash cans at the crossings in little day use areas. There was also a ton of this today:

Mean Poodle Dog Bush

It was all avoidable and I had no problems in my shorts. Didn’t really have a choice now that I’ve lost my long leggings! Haha. The trail was beautiful today, and much more easier than the last few days. Here are a ton of pictures:

Meat-Gazer (don’t ask, haha) and Smoother (back)

Met this couple at Pat’s trail magic yesterday, and they were also at Max’s trail magic today. I’ve been leapfrogging them all day. They’re super cool!

It was a simply beautiful climb and then gradual descent all day today, about 80% through burn areas, (hence all the PDB. I made it further than I had oginally planned, but only because my body and feet felt GREAT! 

I stopped at a fire station that provides water and overnight camping in a nearby Day Use area. After filtering some water for tomorrow’s 17 mile waterless climb, I headed down to the day use area and was quickly offered some pizza!

I barely ate any of my own food today!

Apparently you can order pizza and get it delivered to the station, which is what this fine group of hikers did. The lady in the middle on the left side of the table is named Hippy. She recognized me from 2016! She also remebered Claire!

I was grateful for the extra calories. I really only snacked on my own supply of food today which works out perfectly because since I’m stoveless I don’t have many actual “dinner” meals, and normally rely on my plethora of dry “snack” foods for the last night or two before town. I already ate all my refried beans and rice!

Well, I went super far today and I feel pretty darn good. Tomorow I have a climb and then the start to a STEEP drop down to Agua Dulce, currently 35 miles ahead. I plan to arrive at Hiker Heaven Thursday night :)

Thanks for reading!!