Still plugging away

So far we have logged over 200 miles on the trail. I have to admit that, even though I had over 2 weeks off to catch up on this blog, I have lost a little bit of the spark that motivates me to update these posts. I think I've gotten a little lazy and a little discouraged by concern of portraying an accurate picture. Nonetheless, I recognize this public forum of journaling, although somewhat out of my confort zone, is overall a great lesson in communication. One thing that I am stiil bummed about is not being able to get my pics uploaded in a slideshow. I will continue to work it out.

Yesterday we finished up about a 30 plus miles section from HWY 78 to Warner Springs that we had skipped. I am so glad we came back because it was quite enjoyable. Now, with 2 trucks used to shuttle, we are approaching the rest of the southern section as a series of day hikes or shorter overnighters where we leapfrog with the trucks and walk north to south, but covering incremental sections from south to north. This may sound confusing, but is actually a really great way to see more of the landscape via road and trail, and more importantly allows us to greatly reduce our pack weight.

Our first day back out we walked about 17 miles from Barrel Springs to about 7 miles from HWY 78. We would have been able to cover the entire 24 mile section, but because I was a dumbass and left the keys to my truck (that was awaiting us at HWY 78) in Pams truck (back at Barrel Springs) we didn't want to deal with hitchhiking close to dark. The day was rather chilly, but made for very comfortable hiking and the night ended up being extremely windy with gusts beating against our tent. We saw 29 people in that one day, nearly 3 times as many as we had seen during the previous 200 miles! The kickoff definitely put the throngs out there. I have to admit, I liked it better with less of a crowd, but we will soon move north again and be ahead of it.

The next day, Tuesday, turned out to be really interesting once we came across a family, the "3 Bears". The father had a bad sprain and wanted to leave, the mother and son wanted to continue on. After Pam gave him some first aid foot wrapping care, we decided to let him walk out with us. What an interesting story he had! Long story short: at age 12 in Mexico he became a Buddhist monk, after many many years he wanted to explore the "normal life", he was practicing at a monestary near Mt. Shasta when he met his wife, barely spoke english, but ended up marrying, having 6 children (now ages 20-30), moving to Utah, and now tried to be on board with his wifes dream to hike to PCT. Together they realized she should continue and he should retuen to Salt Lake City. Nonethess, the 7 miles was very enjoyable due to the fascinating conversation.

The bummer about that day is that my knee decided to take a crap on me. I have to say it really pissed me off because I had had 2 weeks of rest and was feeling great and ready to go. There is something definitly wrong with it, but so far it is bearable. Ibuprophin and glucosamine are now part of my daily diet.

Yesterday we finished the 10 mile section from Warner Springs to Barrel springs. I wasn't sure how I would hold up, but it turned out to be a very flat, easy, and beautiful stretch. We saw 12 people that day. One of them was Vimal, one of my AmeriCorps members from last year! It was fun and funny to see him. He was sitting under an oak tree as we approached and when I squinted to see who it was I shouted "Vimal?" We chatted for a few minutes, compared blister stories, documented the event and then went our separate ways.

Tomorrow we start sectioning the 300 miles we skipped (due to snow) from HWY 74 near Anza to Agua Dulce.

The last section we had done before our 2 week rest was from Agua Dulce to HWY 138 at Hikertown. Let me tell you, that section I found to be quite enjoyable. Saw 4 Mojave Greens (rattle snakes) one of which I obliviously stepped right over and wouldn't have noticed if Pam hadn't yelled "Snake!". There was also a huge (5-6 foot long) Diamond Back at the3 spring box at Bear Spring. This fella was carefully gaurding the water source and made his presence known with persistant rattling. Luckily we discovered the pipes fed out of the spring box could be taken apart to get our bottles full. After that, we also discover a full trough on the down hill side of the trail!

Hikertown ended up being an experience in itself. Imagine a tiny, old west town. There are several shed sized building all with an old west theme and decor. It turns out that the owner, is an eccentric retired movie producer with a collection of old movie props and set components.

When we arrived we were greeted by Bob, the caretaker, and soon after to Richard Skaggs, the owner. We immediately hit it off and were soon beijg driven to Lancaster for a mini shopping spree. The next day, Saturday, Richard was going to host a bbq where guests included the local town council, the Duke and Duchess of Manchester, an ex-2nd-in-command from the Russian KGB, and us a couple of grubby hikers. It ended up being a very interesting weekend. Pam was dubbed "Mrs. Clean" her new trail name, because she immediately set to cleaning and tidying and preparing food for the festivities.

The story of how Hikertown came to be is worth sharing. Richard bought the property in the rural Antelope Valley as an investment because he heard of a propsal for a new town, "Centenial", to be developed. In the meantime it would serve as a quiet getaway for him and his wife. Not too long after he had purchased the property, he was having a quoet weekend at the ranch when he awoke one morning to a tent city in his yard. Of course he walked out and asked the squatters to be mindful of his property rights and expressed his concern over the liability. One man stepped forward and offered an apology and explanation on behalf of the rest of the group. Apparently the previous landowner, who was now deceased had an agreement to allow PCT hikers a place to rest and refill H2O. Richard decided he would be willing to install several spigots at the edge of his property and fences to keep them out. This seemed fair. It was the following summer when one day he and his wife were enjoying a vat of homemade lemonade and an afternoon bbq, that the gate swung open and up walked a Japanese hiker. The wife, being somewhat on the spot offered a cool cup of lemonade and a hot dog. The crowd on the other side of the fence gazed with longing. She soon waived them all in and was hosting a hiker picnic. She found these unusual characters to be quite fascinating with diverse backgrounds and representing all corners of the earth. It was this day that inspired her to recognoze there place as a unique gem and to use it partially as a refuge for these nomads. The "junk" that she had been imploring Richard to get rid of was soon used as the inspiration and structural backbone of Hikertown. The funniest part is that now, because she recognized a need for a shower room and kitchen, Richard's Ferrari is left to stick part way out of the garage with the door resting on the trunk!

Pam has had a steroid injection into her foot to help with a neuroma and has an orthotic to wear that seems to help with the discomfort. Now if my knee will start to mend we will be happy campers! My feet still look pretty gross. No longer raw hamburger, but lots of rough dry yucky calluses and a few reoccuring blisters. Ahh! What we put our bodies through for a little bit of "fun" :)

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