Hannah the hiker

Day 32 ended great! We got to the rv park around 4:30. We all jumped into the frigid pool for a pre rinse before our showers. We pre rinsed our clothes before washing them too. It felt nice to take a shower and wash my hair, I had gotten pretty dirty from walking through all the brush on trail.

I had a frozen burrito, rice, and a pint of Ben and Jerry’s for dinner. We went to sleep next to the bathrooms around 8:30. It was a late night but I have so much fun chatting with the group that it’s hard to say goodnight.

On day 33 we left by 6 am. We had quite a bit of uphill! Almost 15 miles straight uphill. We had lunch at the top around 12:30. I was super hungry so I ate a bunch. We left lunch around 1. The rest of the day was cruisey. I was really tired and uncomfortable though. My shorts had started to chafe my skin so walking didn’t feel amazing. I listened to some podcasts.

The sun was out but there was a nice breeze that kept me cool. It was in the 80s for most of the day.

We stopped to get water at the fire station near the end of the day. Gams saved us all a trip by grabbing 7 liters from the station so we didn’t have to walk an extra .2. That was really nice. We hung out at the Mill creek picnic area for a little while, it’s next to the Angeles highway. It took a little while to cross the road since there was so much traffic. After unloading some trash and filling up on water we walked the last mile to camp. I decided to cowboy camp since I was pretty tired and didn’t want to set up my tent. It was a nice little campsite though, a little protected from the wind, nice views, and sand. I went to sleep around 7:30. It was a 25.8 mile day with 6,100 feet of elevation gain.

Day 34 started off rough. I barely slept the night before. I didn’t pick the greatest spot to cowboy camp and my feet were downhill from my head. I woke up a couple times because they felt like they were throbbing. I was also super thirsty so I woke up to drink water as well. I got up slowly around 5 am and left camp by 6. Zak started the night in his tent but the wind got so bad he actually ended up sleeping on top of the tent. So I wasn’t the only one who had a rough night. We walked 7 miles to the first water. I filled up and had a tasty second breakfast of some cliff bars. We all chatted for a while and then headed on. We walked about 10 more miles to lunch. It was a long 10 miles. I felt tired and sluggish. The sun came out too which slowed me down. We passed by a pit toilet and Zak, Stewart, and I threw out some trash at the trash cans. They seemed to be affected by the heat too, normally they are ahead of me but the last 2 miles to lunch we were all pretty close. We got to lunch at 1. I immediately got water, took off my shoes, and ate some food. I was feeling so tired and it felt great to take my backpack off to relax. It was a longer lunch break which I appreciated. I don’t remember a lot of what we talk about but I do remember a lot of laughing. That made me feel better.

We hiked on and came to another pit toilet, this was perfect since I had to go as soon as we got there. At our break here we realized that there were 4 miles of the trail closed because of an endangered frog species the forest service is trying to protect. So then we had to figure out the alternate route which involved some road walking on highway 2. To get to that trail was rough. We had to walk about a mile on the pct and then connect with the Buckhorn trail. This involved some bushwhacking because this part of the pct wasn’t well maintained. We had to cross the creek and kind of find our way back to Buckhorn trail. It took a long time to go a little ways, but it was fun. On a long hike you get a little bit of a tunnel brain when it comes to the trail. This was a way to actually think about where we are walking and we got to move around and stretch more than usual as we navigated some blowdowns and rocks.

We made it to the highway and Gams played some upbeat music to get us pumped for the road walk.

We talked about Wrightwood and what we would do when we got there as we walked. That’s a great way to pass the time.

We saw one truck that stopped and asked if we were going south or north. He pointed out that most people go north.

We made it to the Eagles Roost picnic area and decided to call it a night. It was a long day. We all ate dinner at a picnic table and then cowboy camped. We walked 27.3 miles and had 5,100 feet of elevation gain and 3,930 feet of elevation loss. I went to sleep around 8.

Day 35 started early!

We left camp by 5 am, since it was town day!

We walked on highway 2 for a little bit before we were suppose to connect back with the PCT. But we missed the connection and ended up walking on the road for a little while.

It was really cool though. We could see the city lights, stars, and mountains. All before the sunrise.

Then we walked through a tunnel and did what Zack called the “dark tunnel no headlight challenge.” It felt really cool to be walking through the tunnel in almost complete darkness.

We then connected back with the trail and had quite a bit uphill to 9,200 feet just below Mount Baden-Powell. We stopped for water once and then hiked the rest of the way up and got up there by 9:45. It wasn’t as bad of a climb as I thought it would be. I listened to some music for the last mile to work a little bit harder. I also did a small side quest and bagged Mount Burnham which sits at 9,001 feet before getting to the junction for Baden-Powell.

We then had 3.8 miles downhill. It was pretty steep but easy going. There was a bench with a nice view just off the trail. Stewart was sitting here drinking coffee and said “I’ll be damned if I pass by a bench with a view and don’t stop to drink my coffee.”

From there we had 4.8 miles to get to the highway where we would get picked up by Kitty Hawk. We called Kitty and Mammabear who own a holistic spa and host hikers a couple days earlier to reserve two nights at their place. Kitty picked us up at 1:40 and we headed down to her house. We just rolled down the hill actually because she didn’t have much gas so she just cruised down in her ford focus. It was a tight fit for the 4 of us and our backpacks but we made it work.

We got to her house where we unloaded our packs and headed to town. We stopped to eat at evergreen cafe which was decked out for Halloween. I got a turkey sandwich since I had been craving one.

We went to the hardware store for some small items and will have to return there to exchange our darn tough socks. We also all bought ice cream to eat for a “snack” later.

Kitty picked us back up and brought us to the spa. We all showered up, and ate our ice cream on the couch while watching “surfs up.”

Tomorrow we will take a day off, my feet are thanking me! In total it was a 20.5 mile day with 5,800 feet of elevation gain. Not bad!

It was a pretty day and I even saw a rattlesnake on the trail.

This last section had a lot of intersections with Highway 2, we made a lot of jokes about just following it all the way down to Wrightwood.

I have about 369 miles left on the trail. Our next stop will be Cajon pass in a couple days to indulge in the McDonald’s .4 miles off the trail!