This morning, I got up around 5 AM and slowly began to pack up. I didn’t wanna be too loud because there were still three other hikers in the bunk room. Before I left, I got a little bit of video work done. Then I sat out just around 6 AM. Not long after that I was back to the AT officially starting my day. It was a little chilly out too this morning, which I actually liked.
When I looked at the map last night, I saw there was hardly any elevation gain over the course of today. So for the first time in ages, I actually kept my trekking poles away for the day. It was nice to have my hands-free so that I could snack and drink water without worrying about anything. My plan for the day was to eat as many snacks as possible. And the first couple hours of the day were so nice and easy that that was a simple task.
For a while, I walked through a pine forest, similar to what it was like around Mount Laguna. Then eventually dropped down a bit, and the trail opened up again. For the most part, the trail has been open and exposed with lots of large rock formations around. I’ve really been enjoying the change of scenery. The trail itself is surrounded at times by bushes and trees with bright blue flowers, white flowers, and yellow poppies around. The morning was really comfortable and it hadn’t began to heat up yet for the day.
All morning long, I was trying to remain conscious about upcoming water sources. Typically if the temperatures are moderate, I can go far between sources. But yesterday I noticed I was really thirsty all day long. The trails are so open and exposed, and a bit hotter than usual. So I’ve been drinking a ton of water. I saw that the first source of the morning was about 7 miles in. But it was a little ways off of the trail. I had plenty of water so I decided to go a bit further to the next source. This one was a tank with a faucet, and was very close to the trail.
As I made my way there, I went past the least a few hikers. But I was pretty surprised to see the trail so quiet. Yesterday just felt absolutely wild with how many hikers there were. Then this morning I walked for 15 miles and only saw a handful of hikers.
Luckily, that next water source was working. In the past when I’ve gone to that source in 2022 the tank was full of bright green water. When I was there before the spigot actually didn’t work. Luckily it was running today because the actual basin had very little water in it. It would’ve been next to impossible to scoop out.
After I got water, I continued down a double wide dirt track. This section of the trail runs right alongside a cliff and has some really cool views. There are also a ton of memorials and signs for people up top who have passed away. I remembered that this area had one of my favorite pieces of graffiti along the entire trail. Next to someone’s name on the memorial a person wrote “Living life full throtte”, that’s just such a hard-core way to describe living life.
For the next couple of hours, I just cruised up and down on rolling hills. All day long the trail was so nice and easy. I felt really solid and it seemed as though the time was going by fairly fast. I just tried not to look at my phone because I didn’t want to know the time. In the past, I can get antsy and eager to get somewhere on trail. Today I didn’t really feel that way at all. The time went by very quick and I just enjoyed myself.
Over the next few hours, I only saw maybe a handful of hikers. It was just me and the trail. I wound up getting some service and was able to check my messages. Originally, I wasn’t really planning on stopping into the town of Julian. It would be a 36 mile day to get there today. So it just didn’t seem to make a lot of sense to head in there. But over the course of the day, I wound up eating a lot of food and realizing that I probably would have to go into town. Especially because I’m currently uncertain if I’m going to go into Idyllwild. When I checked my messages, I had one from a guy named Raymond. He’s a Trail Angel in the scissor crossing area and it actually asked if I needed a ride into town. So I coordinated with him and let him know what time I thought I would be arriving there today.
That was absolutely perfect because I know that road can be a little quiet. And if I get to the trailhead around 6 PM, it would be rough to have to wait an hour or so to get a ride. At this point, I think I’ll probably just go into Julian, resupply, grab dinner, and head back out. I spent a lot of the day crunching some numbers and trying to figure out my plans for the next week. There are a lot of different towns and places, but the mileage doesn’t lineup very perfectly.
At one point I had wanted to go into Idyllwild, but then realized I would be arriving on a Friday night. Just about every place in town is crazy expensive and doesn’t allow a single night bookings on weekends. So that kind of crushed that dream. There is a campground in town that I could stay at. But it doesn’t have electrical hook up. That would just mean that staying in town wouldn’t be a super productive use of my time.
Everything always works out perfectly though. So I think I’m just going to let the miles roll out, take it one day at a time, and see what happens in a few days. That’s the only way this will work! I just continued hiking while I was thinking about all of these things. But if you’re ever wondering what I think about while I hike, logistics definitely has its time in my brain. Sometimes I spend the entire day thinking about completely random things or memories. Sometimes I think about different video ideas I can do and stuff like that. But every now and then I spend a lot of time working out the numbers, and trying to figure out what lies ahead.
After thinking about all of that, I wound up listening to a podcast for a while. It had four separate parts so I listened to that for about four hours. Then around the time it was done I got to the next water source. I was definitely very cautious to check the map and make sure I didn’t miss water sources for the day. This is just the type of area that if I miss one, then there’s a chance I could be without water for hours. Which definitely wouldn’t kill me! But would not be a fun time.
At this next water source, there was a guy there named Magellan. He hiked the Appalachian Trail last year. This source was a pressurized pipe, and someone had written right on it that it explodes if you open it too much. Looking out at the ground around the area, you could see where it had sprayed as far as 10 feet out. I just slowly opened the valve and got a liter and a half of water. Then continued on after that.
Over those next couple of hours, there were definitely a few small hills to climb. So the day didn’t have zero elevation gain. But over the course of a 36 mile day there was probably only 1000 or 2000 feet of gain in total. I didn’t actually check exactly how much it was. But the trail was primarily flat and downhill. Other than the occasional small uphill section.
When I started getting closer to scissors crossing, I began seeing more hikers again. It’s funny that there was such a gap in the afternoon where I didn’t see anyone. I saw maybe 15 hikers over the first 20 miles of the day. Then maybe a handful over the next 10 miles of the day. But in the last 5 miles of the day, I probably saw 20 hikers! It’s just been interesting to see how it ebbs and flows. Everyone I passed was smiling and so nice. At this point of the day, though I was on a mission to get to the road. So I didn’t stop particularly long to chat with everyone. If I stopped to talk to every hiker I don’t think I’d get very far unfortunately.
Toward the middle of the day today, I was feeling a pretty tired. I wasn’t sure if it is because of the time change, the fact that I haven’t been drinking coffee, the last few mornings, or maybe the heat? But by the end of the day, I felt a lot more energized. I had an hour or so left of the day and decided to put some music on and jam out. I knew that would get me through. I really haven’t been listening to much music recently. So it’s a nice treat to put it on.
Because I hadn’t seen anyone in so long, I was singing super loud and just bouncing around the trail. When I was belting out music, I walked right past the guy who was sitting in a chair just off the trail. That was hilarious. I just said hello and continued along though. Honestly it’s hard to be embarrassed these days. And I knew I probably would never see that guy again, so it didn’t bother me much.
Maybe 20 or so minutes after that I was doing one of the final out decent before the trail flattened out and headed toward the road. I was seeing so loud and rounded a corner to stumble upon literally 10 hikers all sitting there in the shade of a rock. That was absolutely hilarious. Everybody looked up at me as I walked by and I just smiled and laughed. Then one guy said, “Peg Leg??” This time around I was at least a little bit embarrassed.
Everyone in this group was so ridiculously nice and I stopped and talked to them for a few minutes. The guy who recognized me was so curious where I’d come from for the day. And everyone was pretty shocked to hear that I came from Mount Laguna. I think it took me 3 or 4 days to make it this far the first time I was out here. Maybe even longer! It’s truly all relative.
I was a little envious of this adorable group of hikers all hanging out and camping together for the night. All of their tents were set up in this big flat sandy area. it just must be so much fun to hang out with 10+ new friends. They’re all going to go into Julian tomorrow morning together. And well aware that a component of my mission for this year requires me to move quickly. Which means that I can’t just stop early necessarily and can’t with people. Plus, I do have plans to get picked up at the road. But every now and then at moments like this, I’m a little jealous.
I wound up getting to the underpass right around 6 PM. Raymond was already there waiting. And the funny thing is, as soon as I saw him I realized we’d met before. He looked so incredibly familiar. Apparently he said we met in 2017 on my first through hike. Which is absolutely crazy. He’s a hiker and a Trail Angel and a super nice guy.
Over the last hour or two of the day I started majorly considering potentially staying in Julian for the night. I was just thinking about all of the things I would have to do to resupply, and how quickly I would have to eat some food. I feel like I haven’t eaten enough food the last couple of days. The night I got into San Diego I didn’t have dinner. And last night I didn’t have dinner at the hostel because I didn’t want to keep the other hikers up.
I wound up asking Raymond if there’s any chance I could get a ride back tomorrow morning instead of tonight. Luckily he said he knew a bunch of other Trail Angel’s and that would be possible. So I quickly went online and saw if anything was even available in town. There are so many hikers on trail right now, I really wasn’t sure. I was able to book a room at the Julian Lodge for the night. And honestly, I felt really relieved after that. I realized I just stayed indoors last night. And it’s not necessarily that I need to charge anything or want to shower. But it would be really nice to be able to eat a bunch of food and not have to rush.
Raymond drove me into town and was so fun talking with him. He even surprise me by saying that we were headed to the gear shop! The gear shop close an hour ago so I was not expecting to be able to go. That was an awesome surprise. There are definitely a few things that I needed to get that I knew I couldn’t get at the general store in town.
When we got to the gear shop, the owners Charlie and Mary were there. They are both so ridiculously nice and Mary was really excited to meet. I don’t think we’ve ever met before honestly. I know I went into the shop in 2022, but I can’t be sure if we did. It was so nice to hang out there for a while and talk to all of them. I got everything I needed and then some. Then Raymond drove me down the road to the hotel for the night.
Between everyone at the gear shop, I was able to get a ride coordinated for tomorrow. I’ll be able to head back to trail around 7 AM. Which isn’t crazy early but definitely works. I’m not stopping off anywhere over the course of tomorrow. I don’t think the community center at Warner Springs will be open. But I have plenty of food so I won’t be in any rush. Mary from the gear shop also helped me get in touch with someone who might be able to host me in a couple days in Idyllwild! Which would be absolutely perfect.
Once I got checked in at the room, I got some electronics charging. Then headed down the street and got dinner for the night from the Italian restaurant. Well that was cooking. I got a few last things at the general store. Of course I got a half gallon of chocolate milk to drink tonight. And some extra snacks and things. Then headed back to the room to relax for the rest of the evening. I got my resupply all packed up, took a shower, ate dinner, and then did writing and video work. I’m so glad that I decided to stay here tonight. It’s funny, I was feeling kind of guilty about stopping into town again. But I have no reason to feel guilty. I did 36 miles today and if I want stay in town to eat and make my life a little easier, there’s nothing wrong with that.
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