Cleaned my nasty sleeping bag which seems to take 2 days to dry.   That is such a hassle.   Got resupplied and re hydrated.   Interesting all day I was drinking and eating and drinking and drinking.   I have to be careful about this in the future.   I need a lot of water on the trail and I need to stop cutting that short.  

Birthday party with Francine at a lot of pizza and talked about pooing in the woods.   That seems to be the first question everyone wants to talk about, lol. 

Showed off my hat which I haven’t washed for 3 weeks.   It has a pound of sweat-salt on the rim.   Yumm.

Plan is to hit the trail late tomorrow and do some serious night hiking.     

Packed and scooted early.   Can’t wait to see my wife!

There was a small hot climb then down to a valley that crossed under the 14.   This portion of the trail enters Vasquez Rocks park.   Turns out that this is pretty neat place.   I’ve seen it from the highway for years, but never stopped here.   I need to go back some time with Alice.

There is a drainage tunnel under the 14 that we cross through.   It was long, dark, wet and full of horse shit.   But…..it was soooo cool.    Every hiker came through here and sat down in the muck to get out of the heat.   Met up with Wing It again and we talked about this.   Our families would never understand how wonderful this is….sitting next to a pile of horse manure.  

Anyway, after cooling down we headed out together again.  Got some cool pictures of Vasquez Rocks area as we climbed up.

And out of the park

The last 1.5 miles looked like this on the map:

When you see straight lines like this, it can be certain we’ll be walking on the highway.   That sucked, but the bar at the end of the line didn’t !    Burgers, smoothies, 3 jars of water later I was pretty happy.   Meanwhile Alice was driving around trying to find me. 

I was sitting on the porch of the grill half-asleep with some other hikers when I saw this red truck drive by with my wife at the wheel.   I called her and waited while she passed by the other direction yet again, then finally she figured out where to park.   OMG.   The hikers I was with got a little laugh out of it all.  

But it was a happy ending!   Time to go home for a couple days !

Today started better than the last.   Ate a Poptart and heading out.  

Goal was to do 20+ miles today to make up for my poor performance yesterday.   This should put me at about 5,500 feet.   Since I’m starting at 5,500 feet, should be easy, right?   Well no.   According to my app I get to go +4,700 feet and -4,700 feet today.   Awesome. 

I found this interesting.   The area I walked through in the morning was an old burn from 2007 (I think).   It is interesting seeing how the vegetation recovers.   You can see a few old dead trees together with some dense bushes and younger pine trees growing back.  I suppose in 20 years, this will again be a pleasant shady walk. 

This brought back some bad memories from yesterday….

There were some small creeks still running.   Nice algae filled creek bed.   Delicious, slimy water. 

Got to Mill Creek Fire Station and ran into a dozen hikers milling around.   The Station has an active staff who stayed inside while the hikers all spread out around the building seeking shade.    They must just look out the windows and shake their heads.   

Took a little nap here and updated my blog.   Dexter turned up and we decided to hike together to a campsite for the evening.   Was interesting to get to know her.  

She was a zoology graduate student in Wisconsin doing research into Sparrow hatchlings.   Apparently, these birds are unlike most in that they can survive as babies on either seed or bugs.   Most species of birds require a specific diet depending on their age, but these little guys can switch it up and still develop healthy.  

The theory is that there is an enzyme in their digestive system that allows them to switch between the two diets in 24 hours or less.   To prove this, Dexter and team gathered a bunch of hatchinglings, feed them certain diets for a few days, then killed them and immediately dissected their intestines.   Apparently she did this 191 times for the study over 3 years.   That is pretty gross….hence her trail name.   It is Dexter the serial murderer from the TV series…not the cartoon character.

Camped here for the night.   It was an old campsite that was trashed by the recent burn.

Did a good 22 miles today (Mile 425).   Feel a little better now.

It was a bit windy last night and somewhat cold. Protection in the campground was good, so had a nice nights sleep. Folks were milling around at 6 as I should have been, but instead fell back to sleep. By the time I woke up and got all my stuff ready to go, it was 7:30……Then I had to back track 2 tenths to get water. So it was 8 by the time I finally got out. Only person left in the campground was the cat lady.

I was still pissed that I wasted so much time getting started. At least the trail was downhill, but no…. more the trail delivers a nice hot 1200 foot climb with no wind. I run into this gal “No English” (apparently from Taiwan and actually knows almost no English). I pass her on the climb.   I can out hike a 90 pound Asian Girl carrying a 30 pound pack.  I’m such a stud.

At the top of the climb, I get lost and start up the trail to Mt Williamson which added another 300 feet before I realize my mistake. Turned around and back to the trail junction and there is No English sitting on a rock having some brunch. None for me, I get back on the trail.

Later I ran into Huntsman, his wife, Happy, and Hot Diggity. There is an endangered species by pass that we have to travel around. Some Frog again. So hwy walk 2 miles to Buckhorn campground, then down Buckhart Trail.  We split there and I was on my own after lunch. 

Took off again down Buckhorn to the PCT intersection and misread the signs. Carried on hiking Buckhorn for almost a mile before I realized it. Then I turned around, found the intersection, and got on the PCT…..GOING THE WRONG DIRECTION. I hiked .5 miles south into the endangered species area. The trail got worse and worse, but when I checked the App it said I was on trail so I kept going until the trail turned to nothing. Only then did it hit me.

Turned around, heading back, ran into No English. She was going to wrong way too. After a bunch of gestures and miming “wrong way” to her, she got it and followed me out. Finally got on the RIGHT trail going the RIGHT direction and of course I immediately get a 1,000 foot climb as a reward.  It was damn hot, I was drenched in sweat.

As I rounded one of the peaks top, a stray gust of wind hits me from behind and launches my trail mix bag from my side pocket into the air and down a cliff. That’s fitting.

After that I get a nasty back spasm, probably from carrying the pack with no break. I’m stumbling along, alone, miserable, when I pass mile marker 400.   

I got to the next water stop at the boy scout camp at 5pm giving me a whooping 16 miles for the day. Pathetic. I made dinner, then late hiked another 3 miles to Three Points Trailhead at 403.  I collapsed in my bag for the night. 

I figured I wasted 4+ grueling miles going the wrong directions.