Day 12 :: Warner Springs
A short 7.4 mile day
The morning started off feeling a little rough and road weary. It featured an obligatory stop at the big ol’ pigeon (eagle rock) and then on into Warner Springs. Maybe if the hike had demanded more of me I’d have snapped out of it but my focus was instead as scattered as the prairie was expansive. The wildflowers held the brunt of my positive attention, however fleeting.
At the community center in Warner Springs we took bucket showers and charged phones and picked up our resupply. Captain Crunch? No longer a treat. Straight into the hiker box and into the eager hands of reluctant granola eaters no doubt. Even the decimated bag that had been in my pack the last ten days found a home. The exciting things? Ruth’s family sent cured meats, Iris got our note about assorted condiments and we packed out rosé spritzers.
We waited out the heat of the day and hiked out in the early evening.
Before leaving we weighed our packs. With three and a half liters of water and six days of food (plus wine) I weighed in heaviest by far at 45lbs. That’s still under weight for my usual so I’m not mad about it.
Camped beside Agua Caliente Creek we made dinner, drank wine and planned the morning ahead.
Day 13 :: Mike’s Place
Mile 112.5 to 126.9 (14.4mi)
What a good day! I stopped early on seven miles in at a spring and napped and ate for a few hours.
Around 2pm it seemed like the day had decided against being too hot and I set off for Mike’s Place, a hiker haven and water tank another 7 miles along.
The trail wound through a beautiful boulder field and climbed to the remote ranch nestled in the mountains.
Around eleven miles into my day I really felt like I was in my groove and danced down the trail (as much as you can dance with a 45lb pack on anyway) to music in my headphones. The last couple of miles were hard on my feet but my mood was good and I hobbled into Mike’s Place with a smile. Yes dear reader, you read all of that correctly, your favorite sad and lazy ding dong was dancing down the trail.
Caiti and Ruth were in the outdoor kitchen and I joined in while Scotty showed us around and got us making pizzas.
Obviously we dialed right into the system and dangit, we’re just good at this kinda thing.
The pies were gorgeous and beer was cold. Couldn’t complain about that.
We played some dice and set up camp in the backyard as the sun set. Caiti and Ruth retired as usual and I went to see about a charging station.
I wound up chatting and drinkin with a couple hikers, Mando and Smokey, who had been working there at Mike’s for a few days. It’s been difficult to pick out who’s relatable or interesting with all the athletic wear and while some find that to be an equalizer I just haven’t found that to be true so far. Interactions have been dominated by tedious small talk. These dudes were also weirdos though and we shot the shit until around 10:30p. I lamented that my anker power bank hadn’t arrived and Smokey dug an extra out of his pack for me! Trail magic! It will be nice to not have to choose between pictures and music from here on.
Day 14 ::
Mile 126.9 to 140.1
Got a late 8:30am start after breakfast by Mando. I was feeling a little rough, it was hot and stuffy out and I forced myself to walk six miles before I retired under some brush and slept 11-1pm. Afterwards I made some mashed potatoes and taped my blisters.
Feeling refreshed I put on some upbeat music and boogied down the trail. I managed a 3.5 mile hour on a good descent, I jogged a chunk of it (yeah…I’m still amazed).
I hope I keep saying this but I really can’t get over everything I get to see everyday.
The desert wildflowers flirt in the wind, rocky outcroppings sparkle in the noon sun, dusty sunsets paint hills and valleys in pastels and fire. It’s really something else and I’m endlessly enamored.
Caiti and Ruth had tents up when I came trotting down the hill around 5pm.
I spent the evening gathering flowers and colorful grasses and building a hat band for my sun hat. I used to make these all the time and fell out of the habit a couple years ago.
Day 15 :: Idyllwild…?
Mile 140.1 to 155.7
At 5:45a I woke to a sprinkling of rain and threw together a very makeshift raincover. The 10x 10 of tyvek Joel sent is plenty to keep me and my things dry which in moments like this is a total life saver. I couldn’t be happier to have a comfortable space in inclement weather while keeping the warmth and light weight of the bivy and bag Trevor lent me.
Around 12:40pm I passed the 150 mile marker. I knew the weather wasn’t going to work very well for my usual noon nap – once I got snuggled back up in my bag against the cold there’d be no convincing myself to get back out in the rain.
Usually my treat for getting going in the morning is a nap so I told myself if I made the 11 miles to the road by 1:30 that instead I would hitch into the Paradise Cafe for a treat. I made it just in time and caught a ride immediately with a friendly couple leaving the trailhead. I ordered the Gus Burger (bacon and cheese with all the fixings on Texas toast….it barely fit in my mouth to bite but I ate every crumb). I ran into Smokey again at the cafe and we sat out front debating what to do with the evening. The cafe offers camping on the premises after hours and they close at 3pm on Mon and Tues. With the rain continuing to drift through, their covered patio was looking very inviting.
Most of the folks we’d been loosely hiking along with the last few days, including Smokey, were headed into Idyllwild from there.
While shivering against the wind and dragging my feet about getting back on the trail I watched a jacked up pickup and tiny yellow mustang that had been in a fender bender pull into the lot. A twenty something yr old dude got out of the truck yelling and a grey haired woman in the mustang leaned out the window. I didn’t catch much of the exchange until things escalated and the dude turned and punched his own truck, denting the tailgate. He got inside and peeled out of the parking lot followed by the woman. The patio occupants shook heads and chuckled. Shortly after that a car pulled in with a beefy dude in board shorts and three girls in bikinis. Smokey hollered that the cafe was closed as they started to get out of their car. The folks running the cafe were kept by lingering patrons for almost an hour after close and were still cleaning inside. The folks in the car leaned out and flipped Smokey off as they started to back out of the parking space. We laughed about it and wondered what had them bothered and one of the gals hung out the window to question why he would tell them the cafe was closed if people were still in there….I laughed and told them to go in if they weren’t convinced and they yelled at me to stay out of it. The whole thing was just too silly to me and I laughed and shrugged.
Then the girls started piling back out of the car.
You know that moment when you’re approaching a strange dog and the air between you and the dog changes in an instant – and in that instant you know that dog wants to bite you?
I felt that. It sounds silly but I knew I was in trouble.
Bikini Kill was coming for me and I was legitimately concerned because this had all escalated in a matter of about two minutes and I was still completely confused about what was so upsetting. “Why don’t you come out here and face me bitch!” “You wanna say that to my face?” “Stand up and face me bitch, I’m gonna teach you something” “You better learn from this girl!”
—— “What? Learn what? I don’t understand what’s happening?!” I laughed nervously.
“Keep laughing bitch – what do you even look like?” One of the girls approached the patio. “Nice flowers homely bitch!” (Trail name?!) “You’re lucky today bitch.”
I couldn’t help but continue laughing “Wait why am I lucky?”
“You’re lucky I don’t beat your ass bitch! What are you? Trailer trash?”
“Uh…hiker trash” inserted Smokey. I laughed harder.
More words were exchanged. I kept laughing and shrugging and trying to delegitimize their anger which in hindsight was probably not the right approach but I was SO CONFUSED. after they finally retreated I realized I would probably act pretty foolish if I were hangry and in a bikini in the pouring rain. After all that drama I felt uneasy staying for round three and went to catch a hitch back to the trailhead. Someone working at the cafe scooped me and gave me a grip of beers that I didn’t really need to carry but the kindness was a more than welcome change from the episode of Jersey Shore i’d just gotten myself caught up in somehow.
I hiked 4 miles into the rain to Caiti and Ruth. The rain intensified the dusty pastels of the desert rock, the moss and lichen and the wildflowers. The clouds hung low and heavy on the hilltops and drifted through the ravines.
I sputtered my story still reeling from adrenaline and struggled to provide context for the absurdity because there just…wasn’t any. I mentioned that everyone else seemed to have gone into town and we deduced that we’d gotten confused on when to pick up our micro spikes. It was decided that in the morning we’d hike back and head in as well and then I set up my rain cover and settled in for a rainy evening.
We’ll be taking our first zero in Idyllwild while we wait for packages to arrive. That means beds, baths, and laundry and we could use all three after this weather.
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