Nothing but determination to get to Canada got us to finally muster the gumption to leave hiker heaven-paradise off the trail, as we packed up early to begin a 24 mile pre-planned slackpack from the Saufley’s residence in Agua Dulce to the Anderson residence. Our great friend, Batteries Included, who thru-hiked the PCT in 2003, kindly offered to drive all our removed items from our packs to the Anderson’s house while we were hiking. Our slackpacking group included Phantom, Doodlebug, Nitro, Remy and Heather, Bono and Nightingale, and me. A thru-hiker named Mountain Tripper, who bunked with us in our tent last night, volunteered to drive us in Big Red the mile back to the trail (which is Main Street in Agua Dulce).
After a short stop at the liquor/convenience store for early morning breakfast snacks, we began our slackpacking day with a 2-mile road walk (on trail) out of town. Eventually the trail became dirt road, then finally just trail. The day was abnormally cool in what would normally be very hot terrain as we are fast approaching the perimeter area of the Mojave Desert. The miles came easily and by 11:00 am we had all pushed 8 miles up a 2,000 foot climb to a nice shady spot under a tree. I ate an early lunch, then pressed on just behind Remy and Heather. Another 7 miles of hiking and I caught up to Jessica who was just waking up from a nap in a shady spot along the trail near a trickling stream which in normal years would be bone dry. I stopped and we talked for a few minutes, then she resumed hiking while I continued my break.
Just a short mile and a half later, I arrived at a skeleton hanging in a stunted tree right next to the trail: Hiker’s Oasis. This spot is a shaded canopy of stunted trees in which Joe and Terrie Anderson leave trail magic as well as a cache of water for the thru-hikers. The shady oasis, from otherwise normally hot trail, also includes several lounge chairs to sit in plus a pink flamingo and a palm tree for aesthetics. Sitting in chairs relaxing were Badmoon, Happy, Whoop Ass, Jessica and Kenneth when I arrived. I was the recipient of the last of the trail magic left in a large cooler by the Andersons: a cool Pepsi. We sat and talked for a while, waiting on my fellow hikers to arrive. Everyone regrouped after 30 minutes or so.
Seven more miles of hiking brought us to a road crossing where Terrie Anderson sat waiting to shuttle hikers to her home. Remy, Heather, Jessica and I were on the first shuttle. Happy, Badmoon, Whoop Ass and Nitro were on the next. The third shuttle brought Bono and Nightingale, but no Phantom or Doodlebug. Meanwhile, the party was in gear on the front deck of the Andersons with cold beverages, hot dogs and pork on the grill. B.S., Marzipan and Country were already enjoying being spoiled by our trail angels when we arrived. Finally Doodlebug and Phantom showed up after having to hitch… we were told they would be shuttled, but apparently there was a communication breakdown. Nevertheless all was well.
The Andersons fed all 15 of us huge heaping plates of taco salad for the main course. We sat around their den while they told the story of how they began bringing hikers to their home as well as several other very funny stories about times that they surprised or even scared hikers along the trail. These folks love to party and embrace the thru-hikers. We had a great evening with Joe and Terrie. I headed for their extensive backyard tenting area around 10pm to get some rest and to begin the daunting task of catching up on journaling which has fallen way behind while in Agua Dulce. The trail magic and angels end now and the hot, desolate Mojave Desert is just a couple days away.
Today’s mileage: 24.2 Cumulative mileage: 478.6 Weather: sunny, low 42, high 82
