PCT day 26 – Snow in Southern California
We got breakfast in the red roof inn and debated for a while if the weather was going to be good enough to go back out to the mountains.
We decided to go back to the trail while Chronicler decided to stay in Palmdale another day. We got a taxi back to the trail head as we thought it would be easier than hitching and as there were 5 of us it wasn't a bad deal.
We got dropped off back at the fire station and we saw the mountains we were in yesterday covered in snow!
Half an hour in to the walk we found an abandoned tent, it was a bit worrying, but there was no other stuff with it so we are assuming that the person who abandoned it is ok. Cool breeze decided to updating his 'vlog'.
I had a bit of a moment this morning when I realised I was walking with the Swiss boys – who were actually in the Swiss army, Cool Breeze who has legs at least twice the size of mine, who is also ex-military, and Growler who is the fastest girl I know – she runs the downs and runs the ups. And here I am trying to keep up with all these people. It's ridiculous!
We spent most of the day walking through snow and poodle death bush. My feet were soggy and squelching. I'm pleased I have a decent set of waterproofs as they keep the wind out and keep me warm as well as dry and I didn't take them off all day.
I heard word from the others around 3pm and they had a snowy and cold night but they are all fine. Roxanne tried to cook in her tent and burnt a hole in it! And this is one of my friends tents after she spent the night on the mountain...
We walked and walked, up and down up and down. I only took my pack off twice all day. Once to pee and once to eat Cheetos.
We walked and walked some more, made easier by laughing and joking with Cool Breeze and Growler, until we had walked almost 27 miles the the Acton camp ground.
At first we thought we had run into a new bubble of people and we didn't know anyone, it was kind of strange, but there were a few people I knew – Jesse, Goatsy, Julian, Alison The Untraceables and I met some new people! I heard 'Alex, is that you?' (I love it every time it happens, and it seems to happen a lot!) it was a guy (wildebeest) from scout and frodos who started the same day as me and I haven't seen since. He recognised me by my voice!! Embarrassing!
I had a soda as a number one priority and we had dinner. Some people ordered pizza and we got given some – always a good to sit with people who have pizza!
We planned showers and laundry for tomorrow. Then we got in the hot tub which was as amazing as it sounds. We were supposed to be out at 9 but a man called Rex let us stay in until half past and he cranked up the heat. I encounter lovely people every day.
I'm not sure if it was just because it was a Friday night but it was the noisiest camp ground ever. There were approximately one million kids there who were screaming and shouting until around 11pm (that's 2 hours past hiker midnight!). We were also next to a busy road, and we had trains passing through. But we aren't getting up early tomorrow...