Day 30-33:
A mini vacation from the trail!
Spent time chilling at Hiker Heaven, said goodbye to my chapter 1 hiker friends as I probably wont see them again unless they have frequent zero days. It was nice to meet the new faces arriving at the Sauffley's too. Ketchup takes awesome candid portrait photos of fellow hikers and took one of me with a hula doll.
One Track played guitar and sang for us which was a great way to chill on the veranda in the afternoon.
Met Snake Charmer and a couple from the Big Island who I had met in Warner Springs, Bridget (now Lady Mac) and Gourmet. It was fun to be able to bust out a bit of pidgin english. Saint, Rocky 4 and Jolly Llama showed up and I had a margarita and avocado salad with them at the local Mexican restaurant. Max and Love Monkey also arrived and it was nice to hear her talking as she had now broken her vow of silence. Bear Slapper formerly known as Snickers rolled in and there are so many others that it's impossible to name them all.
Treated myself to the hair salon in Agua Dulce and ate lots if salad, fruit and vegetables all day, chilling and talking story waiting for Josh to arrive. Zero days are just as important as hiking days, as you get to meet lots if other hikers and hear their stories.
I have never met a hiker dog before. Andy is hiking with Moby who has his own backpack for his food and special hiking shoes. What an amazing dog! Such a calm, zen personality.
The next few days included a much needed trip to REI, where I replenished my supplies including food, snacks and bars, electrolytes, a new solar panel for charging my phones, gloves, a new arm band for my phone and a few other items much needed for the next part of my journey. Thank you to my midwife co-workers for your generous REI gift certificate which I used here. Josh bought me a new ultralight knife which only weighs 1.2 oz/ 34gm (Gerber 400).
We spent time at Vasquez Rocks and now Josh can say that he has walked on the PCT, as the trail runs through the park.
The rocks here are fascinating and are the result of uplifting, tilting and differential erosion of resistant redstone and fanglomerate beds originally laid down approx 25 million years ago. Formations like these, leaning at a 45 degree angle are called " hogsback ridges". They were tilted upwards by faulting and folding... quite fascinating!
We did wine tasting at Agua Dulce Winery, bought a bottle of 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon which we'll drink when I've completed my hike and kayaked on the Castaic Lake. Enjoyed staying at the Pink Cottage in Agua Dulce.
Tomorrow I get back to the business of back packing the PCT! This mini vacation from the trail has been very fun and rejuvenating and I'm ready to conquer the next section.
We hiked from Campo to Interstate 15 this year and hope to do a thru in a few years. Enjoying following your journey and so happy to hear Snake Charmer is still out there. We last saw him with nasty blisters. If you see him again tell him Tj and Mark say hi. Older couple from Humboldt.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your comment and for following my blog Tj and Mark. I met up with Snake Charmer again at the "Bridge of the Gods" at the end of Oregon. Happy 2015, and I am writing a book which will include my PCT adventure called "Dream it. See it. Be it."
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