Slacker

Monday, May 26
Mile 583, Oaks Spring

"Slack packing": a term to describe a thruhiker who caches their backpacking gear down the trail and then hikes back to it. I am one of those today. A slacker!

I ran an 8-mile stretch of trail with Neon this morning and it was marvelous. Such a fun way to experience an otherwise pretty uneventful and waterless section. It was also an interesting look at how my body's changing a month into my hike. Fast twitch muscles are no good-the ones used for charging up hills. But a couple miles in, slow twitch took over and I felt AMAZING. So strong and solid and supported, even on a long downhill and some road. This is the fittest I've ever been.. So weird to think about what's going on in my body as I hike almost a marathon a day.

Natural Resource Tour de California

Saturday, May 24
Mile ??, Tylerhorse Canyon

Today's story in pictures:

Walking the aqueduct. Steppin allllll over LA's water right now.

Katie and Jeff, Trail Angels of the day! Found their oasis by word of mouth and spent a much-needed siesta with them.

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Detour to Hikertown

Friday, May 23
Mile 513, Hiker town

This sums up most of my day as I avoided a fire detour:

And then we arrived at Hikertown. It's owned by an ex-Hollywood hotshot with a lot of land and old western-y movie sets, which makes for a quaint little oasis from the raging desert winds.

Itis managed to charm the Hollywood guy into letting us sleep in the backseat of his old Rolls Royce. Watched meteor showers through the windows where our feet stuck out.

Hang tight!

Well, someone stepped on my phone cable at the Anderson's and I was mostly without battery this weekend. No biggy, just picked up a new one at Kmart, but posts will be behind til I can get enough time/battery/reception. Fear not!

Zero at Party Central

Thursday, May 22
Mile 478, again

Zero at the Anderson's! Highlights include pancakes, rock/body painting, Beerski, beer darts, beer, taco salad, Mohawks, and stories by Terry Anderson. So good.

My forest ecology TA, Molly(Gangsta Rap), hiked the PCT in 2011 and made it into the Anderson's living room. Yo' ass is famous, girl!!

Angels

Tuesday and Wednesday, May 20-21
Mile 478, Casa de Luna (Anderson's)

This stretch of trail has been all about the people. We've been sidling right up next to civilization, so the remote wilderness ideal is a distant dream. But it's been beautiful and unforgettable. I've met some incredible people these past few days; a reminder that there's more to this trail than just hiking.

Music is a great way to hide from the torrentialdownpours. T-Bow, Smooth Operator, Magic Stick, The Zone, and Angry Bird (making a banjo!)

First came the Saufleys at Hiker Heaven, a completely fitting name for the well-oiled machine that caters to pct hikers. Donna and Jeff Saufley are saintly in their generosity to weary, smelly, and battered thruhikers. Within a couple hours of sitting on some cushy couches on the patio, my laundry was done for me, I had a hot shower, my care packages were picked up, and I was thanking every god I knew for the Saufleys.

24 miles of endless, undulating, sanity-testing chapparal, and we were at the Anderson's. A different scene to be sure, with a night of rowdy conversation and taco salad and stumbling through the dark with Itis and laughing when we lost our backpacks down the rabbit hole/manzanita grove.

Cheers to Trail Magic by the Andersons!

We call the generous strangers who help us "Trail Angels". That's a kindness that makes me want to be better, a reminder that we only get by with a little help from our friends.

Hitting stride

Monday, May 19
Mile 450, Vasquez Rocks

 The now-familiar desert flower perfume filled my nose, the now-familiar grasses waved and tickled as I cruised at the now-familiar pace of hiking, with now-familiar friends ahead and behind. It was a beautiful day, and I really feel like I've hit my stride (no pun). 

14 miles of cresting fire-scarred hills, then siesta and ice cream and a SWIMMING POOL at the koa. I really love the bubble of hikers we've fallen in with; Leisure Tour and the Fellowship are so much fun. We all decided to camp at Vasquez Rocks tonight, just outside Agua Dulce, after a breezy ten miles this evening. Walking this much is starting to feel so easy, and the afternoon flew by in a series of stunning cloudscapes and a gorgeous sandstone slot.

Happy under my Jeffrey pine friend tonight. I can't get over how much I love the sound of wind through needles; my lullaby.