Day 12 (5/29) Magical Trails

I was awake early as I was camped on the eastern face of the mountain. I discovered I had four more miles to descend. Ouch. Think of riding the elevator up a 300 story building, only to find our you couldn't take it back dLown. Instead the friendly man there informs you that there is a ramp that will lead you to the bottom. Awesome, ramps are easy, right? Usually that's true,  but only if they aren't 14 miles long and se to take an eternity. The ramp in question would also visit other buildings on the way down, occasionally going up a few stories before continuing the gradual descent. Essentially, after 7 hours of hiking this descent, including 2 today, I was ready for anything else. That came in the form of a one mile road walk followed by a 2.5 mile slog through sand and wind.  That was trying because you can't get a good purchase on the sand so each step slips backwards to some extent. Plus, being sandblasted by the wind is nothing short of unpleasant. So, I was already excited to come up to the I-10 underpass, but what would happen next was beyond my wildest dreams.

On the side of the underpass was a sheet of paper with a bunch of hiker signatures, and immediately below it was three coolers, full of pop and apples. My first trail magic! I dutifully signed my thanks and indulged myself in fresh fruit and carbonated beverages. As I was sitting there I decided to do some journaling, but before I made it more than a paragraph a small sedan rolled up and a cheerful lady hopped out. ' PCT Hiker?' 'Yep, started on the 18th' 'You interested in some fried chicken? Kay, a trail angel had stopped by to check on how much was left on the coolers, and offered me my fill of fried chicken, cole slaw, potato salad, strawberries, and veggies. Then, to top it off she pulled out an apple pie! This just made my day and turned it from a slight negative to a very positive. She explained that she had a friend who was a thru hiker and she just enjoyed supporting all of us. What an amazing person. If you see this, thanks again Kay!

While I was eating, another hiker named Todd from Sacramento came up, so I waited for him to finish before we took off together. We hiked past the Mesa wind farm, which was really neat to see up close, especially to compare the new and old turbines. The new ones were on the standard tube towers, but the old ones were on truss frames, and some frames were clearly damaged and the turbines had been taken down. We hiked together for about 10 miles to the whitewater trout reserve, where Todd camped, and I later found out he got more trail magic in the form of a cookout there. I pressed on another 4 miles before settling down as I am shooting to hit Big Bear on Tuesday, which is another 45 miles down the trail. In this last section did the evening, I had quite a surprise. I had just changed into sandals to cross Whitewater Creek when a dog suddenly appears from behind me barking like crazy. I had been looking for the best route across, so this took me totally by surprise, and my first reaction was to start yelling back at it. Soon enough its owners came by and apologized, but man that had my heart racing... I crossed the creek, took the opportunity to wash down my legs and then finished off the last few miles fit the evening. That was a little more excitement than I was expecting at the end of the day.

Miles Today: 21
Trip Mileage: 222