World B. Free

It's been a while since the last post because I haven't been able to charge my phone. Since Big Bear I have done some hiking so to speak. Life is amazing out here. I left Papa Smurfs house is big bear with clean clothes and a full belly. The trail was mellow for 3 days. Some amazing views and no snakes. The blissful level trail ended too soon however as we had some extreme ups and down. I ran low on food but I knew hiker boxes would fill my bag.

There was rumors of hot springs but could you swim in the mid day? I thought we would skip it with the 25mile day in mind but it was too godly to be true. Natural sulfur hot springs surrounded by cold pools with fish had a rope swing! I went to the rope swing and then Kitten found TWO FULL 24oz BEERS. So excited to have free beer in our paradise it couldn't get much better...until the locals came around and stripped off their clothes, and splashed around. Hikers ended up looking to be the conservative ones while locals proudly pranced around. The day only got better when I fished up a new 2liter bottle of cold grape soda that I ended up sharing with hikers. Then our buddy and one of my favorite hikers G-Dub yelled out "Brownies!!!" And mixed a batter with milk powder and everybody threw in some treats. We ate it raw and got a delightful sugar high and a few more jumps off the rope swing were activities as more naked locals kept pouring in.

I met Rafiki from Alaska who told us of a boat ride from Bellingham, WA that could take us up to Anchorage for $180 over five days! Alaska, contains the fabulous Denali National park where we can do some more hiking after the PCT! Then back to Vancouver and who knows after that.

On Thursday there was a McDonalds 24 miles by highway 15. I got up at 525 and made 24 miles by 4:15! That's a pretty good run for me. I didn't each lunch cause I wanted to make it with a big appetite. Once the Mickey D's was in sight I was overwhelmed to see cars, people, and the usual things in society. I had been in the mountains for 6 days straight using my feet to get 342 miles to fast food. It wasn't as exciting as I thought but I ordered 20 nuggets, a Big Mac, large chocolate shake, med fries and used CTL's cup for soda. I ate the whole thing too quick and felt sick. I didn't like the hiker paradise as much as I thought. Low on food I got 4 double cheese burgers to go at 1.50 a piece and that would be my meal. After we left I got to talk to Lindsey on the phone which made me happy. Right after the phone call, a pair of big glowing eyes stared in the distance. A mountain lion was checking us out in the dark. I was afraid for about a minute and realized it would not bother us, I just knew.

I was cowboy camping with CTL behind me when we both woke up to sone rain! My biggest fear is getting drenched in a cold night but it was a light rain. I was too tired to set up my tent so I just pulled it over me. It worked well. It only rained for about an hour and I stayed dry and warm.

We decided to sleep in to cut our losses and had to climb 7,000 feet in 17 miles! I ate my cheeseburgers for breakfast and had a good amount of energy for the ascent. 3 miles in, I found a cache with cold beer, cookies, water, lawn chairs, and the Swim suit addition of sports illustrated with Kate Upton on the cover. What a treat :)

Now we only have 8 more miles up hill and I'm really tired. One new blister, strangely on my palm and we are not going into Wrightwood.

Life is good on the trail.

King Street