Heinz drove Phantom, Good To Go and me to Tom’s Family Diner early this morning to eat a famous Tom Burrito, a huge breakfast burrito. Wow, I could barely finish it! Nitro wasn’t feeling well, so she stayed back at the ranch while we gorged ourselves. I’m down 7 pounds so far, so I feel no guilt whatsoever stuffing the calories in.
We drove back to the Kass residence one last time for Nitro then loaded up our gear and headed out for Wrightwood. Upon arrival at the Pines Motel, we dropped most of our gear off in the room occupied by Ladyface, Grilled Cheese, Psycho, Nabor J, Chowder, Jean Luc and others so we could do our slackpack hike. Nightingale and Vin piled in Heinz’s car with the four of us (Nitro, Phantom, Good To Go and me). It was a tight fit with seven in the car for the 10-mile trip up the mountain to the PCT trailhead at Inspiration Point.
Soon we were back on trail, going southbound this time back to the Acorn side trail where we left the PCT two days ago. Steps were still painful for me with the right foot especially on steep ascents which accentuated pressure on the heel. But the shoes otherwise felt great! Phantom was walking gingerly and slowly and not with his usual full gait. We took a nice leisurely pace on this gorgeous Wednesday up in the snow country. We eventually passed our thru-hiker friends B.S. and Jessica who had just spent an hour traversing through snow fields where the trail was obscured. Rather than trying to find the trail, we hiked a parallel dirt road the next couple of miles to avoid post-holing through deep snow. The road itself was in impassible shape for vehicles, littered with thousands of rocks, boulders and debris from the winter’s heavy dose of snow, rain and rock slides.
By mid-afternoon our six miles of PCT was done, and we were hiking down the steep Acorn trail back toward Wrightwood. Heinz was waiting for us when we arrived at the junction of the trail and Acorn Drive. We loaded up the six of us in his car for the short drive to Wrightwood’s Pines Motel. Securing a cabin with a kitchenette (what a dump!) we moved our stuff in and then found a restaurant in town (Yodelev). Nitro and I split a large pizza while Phantom and Good To Go did sandwiches. Nightingale and Vin (now given the trail name Bono due to his U-2 Bono shades) ate lots of miscellaneous food. Heinz soon arrived with a weary but triumphant Doodlebug who had completed the 27-mile hike back to McDonald’s, so we’re now all at the same point on the trail. Sadly, we had to say goodbye to both Heinz AND Nitro, who is taking a few days off to visit family. We know that she will be behind us, but we will see her again farther down the trail! Our time together has been meaningful, and we will miss Nitro!! I popped over to the library for a little internet time then headed over to the grocery store to reload for the next segment to Agua Dulce. I bought too much food! Heinz and Nitro made one last appearance, bringing Opto into town!
The balance of the evening was spent out by the gazebo at the Pines Motel. The thru-hiker party continued to grow. Eventually there were about 20 of us hanging out, listening to music, drinking beer, telling stories, laughing and sharing trail life. What a great evening! I’ll try to list some ot the hikers for posterity that were at our impromptu party: Phantom, Good To Go, Doodlebug, Rabbit, Nightingale, Bono (all sharing our dumpy cabin), Ladyface, Grilled Cheese, Psycho, Nabor J, Chowder, Jean Luc, B.S., Jessica, Erica & Dominique (Canadians), Opto, Bill & Buddy (the mutt), the owner of the motel – from China, the local painter hired by the motel – an Hispanic guy from L.A., and at least four other hikers who I can’t remember trail names of.
Tomorrow morning we head back to the trail! Today’s mileage: 5.9 Cumulative mileage: 369.5
