Today we are at mile 210 at another trail angel's house. The last hundred miles were definitely a whirlwind compared to the first.
I finally received my trail name from Warner Springs monty. As we left Warner Springs, Pockets comes walking in at the exact same time. It was magical because we weren't sure if her leg had gotten better or worse. It's amazing coincidences like this that happen on trail often that give me goosebumps. So Monty named me Goosebumps. It's been fun to relay my new name and become a part of this incredible group of people.
I saw my first rattlesnake of the trip, though many have yet to see any. This one was about a foot and a half long crossing the trail in front of me. He only rattled a bit as he passed by. Pinch says I handled it well but I think it's just because my whole body was frozen.
We spent an awesome nero (day where you only hike a little) in Idyllwild with some friends we've been leap frogging with for the past week. I also hitchhiked for the first time with mark, a retired firefighter in the area who had some friends hiking, and his adorable boxer, Bob, who I fell in love with on the 15 minute ride. Then it was back to the trail around the fire closure. We got up to 9000 feet and suddenly it was no longer warm and sunny. We were hit by the wind all day long. We took a break and ended up falling asleep for a few hours. When we woke up it was 5:30 and we still needed to travel about 8 miles to get below 6500 feet and out of the snow storm that was brewing. We ran into the guys and ended up following them to mile 190.5 where there was a campsite. We were still at almost 8000 feet so we knew the weather was going to hit us. My tent only collapsed once but it struggled to stay up the rest of the night. We woke up to extreme wind, some snow, and a very cold morning. We booked it down those first few miles and the layers started to come off as we descended. In total we came down 8000 feet to hit the desert floor, which was no picnic to walk through either. After going under an overpass, a torrential downpour occurred and with the high wind we were soaked in a matter of minutes. It was heaven when we got to Ziggy and the Bear's and were greeted with warm water, chairs, and cover from the elements. We also scored some ice cream after dinner. Now we head to big bear city!
- Goosebumps
