I was up around 7:30 and packing my bag in order to get out the dir as early as I could. Fair Lady also planned to leave today, so we thought we might try to make a joint escape. The first order of business was coffee and pancakes. I didn't realize how long this would take with so many hikers, but it was well over an hour of pancake cooking before we all ate our fill. Joe is a saint for doing that for us each and every morning... Then we had to sign the banner and get our photo taken. This was complicated by the fact that as we were getting ready for the photo, the Leisure Crew, plus Java, and Stickman all rolled in. After hellos and brief catching up, we finally got our photos, and then it was time to get a ride back to the trail. Fair Lady, Number One and I got a ride with Lion King, who had so much stuff in the car we had to keep our packs on our laps. At least it was only two miles. Some people who want to stay longer yet make progress on the trail will ride to the trail then arrange to be picked up at the next road in 8 miles. This is what Number One had done, so he started ahead of us. This is also part of how people get stuck we found out, because its a lot harder to get a ride back up to that further trailhead. We finally put our feet back on the PCT at 11:30am, a better start than at the Saufley's, but still it would make for a shortened day.
Fair Lady and I walked together through lunch, when she got going before me. Her ankle was swelling, so she wanted to get the first few miles behind her before taking some more serious rest. During lunch we were passed by Moses, Chris and Wolfpack who had amazingly gotten out as well that morning. Sadly I never caught up to any of them again, and I am willing to bet that they all went back to the Anderson's from Lake Hughes road... A bit later in the day I ran into Pepper and Mace hiding from the heat in a shady spot. This was very curious because I would imagine being from Israel they would be better adapted to the heat than a Chicago guy.
Well in any case, I was shooting to hit the 500 mile marker this evening, but when I found a good campsite a few miles shy of it, I called it a night and went to bed. Tomorrow is the last of the three trail angels in this area, Hikertown, so we'll have to see how I fare on my third attempt to escape one final hiker black hole.
Miles Today: 20
Trip Mileage: 498
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