Day 21, 5/6, mile 275

Wow, three weeks out here already? It feels both like much longer than that and very quick. Perhaps 3 weeks make sense :-).

I am so impressed with my body. It is incredible how quickly our bodies can adapt to new activities. Even today, with a full resupply and pack that weighs over 30 pounds, I feel really good. Now, 17 or 18 miles sounds like a normal day instead of a lofty target. I did my first 20 mile day a several days ago, and I felt great! It's satisfying, surprising, and just pleasant to be capable of hiking those kinds of distances every day with a pack.

I am still traveling with Thumb and Mouse, and they are officially my trail family. We camp together almost every night, although we don't typically hike together. I've also befriended many other wonderful hikers. It seems like most people are in their 20s or their 60s. I've only met one parent of young children - that's understandably the demographic that is missing from the trail.

I'm currently traveling in the northern part of the San Bernardino Mountains, the second of the three groups of the "Saint" mountains in Southern California. It's wild: in two days I'll be going to a hot springs I visited in college and I'll be pretty darn close to Claremont. It's a bit of a walk down out memory lane down here.

 -Behind me is the Coachella Valley, where the famous music festival occurred last weekend. On Sunday I watched the traffic leaving the festival from high on Fuller Ridge. What's crazy is that I attended the festival myself exactly ten years ago, when my generous Uncle Rick gave me tickets.-

-I love this view up a valley beneath San Gorgonio. The trail is far below in the valley, then winds up to where I took this photo.-

 -This beautiful grass was in full bloom on the way down Fuller Ridge.-

-I just love this adorable succulent. A Sedum?

 -The California lilac (unrelated to cultivated lilacs; it is a Ceanothus of the Rhamnaceae family) smells incredible! It's one of my favorite plants on the trail and present in many locations.-

I must spend some time telling the story of the trail angel I met last week, a woman we named Five Star. Mouse and I were taking a break in the shade of an oak tree at the junction of a side trail that meets the PCT, on our way into the town of Idyllwild. (I had spent half the night before up sick from either a very brief bout with norovirus or a dramatic reaction to an expired Reese's peanut butter cup.) Up the side trail comes a couple who immediately says hello and starts asking us about our hike. We chat for a while, and after they have a private consultation, the woman asks if we might want to stay in her home that night. Feeling somewhat surprised, I took her phone number but did not commit to staying. Further along trail, as we discussed it, we decided it was a great idea and we trusted these people we had just met. When I got to town I called and arranged the time for her to come pick us up after we had purchased groceries. Not only did the couple arrive but also their friend and his adorable little dog, Rusty, a Chihuahua terrier mix. Rusty and I quickly bonded. They drove us to the to our trail angel's incredibly beautiful home on five acres just outside of town. It had Adobe siding and a gorgeous deck, and trails meandering through the pine forest. We had the daylight basement all the ourselves, including a bathroom and laundry and a big bed. It was unbelievably generous of her to share her home with us. We christened her Five Star because, well, her home felt like a 5-star hotel. The best part of the experience, though, was not the comfort of her home or the view from the deck. It was Five Star's enthusiasm for PCT hikers, especially female hikers. She was so excited to have us there and to learn our stories. We were the first hikers she had hosted in her home. It was truly inspiring!

-Thumb, Mouse, Squirrel, Five Star, Rusty and me, and Sweep hiking up to the PCT.-

-The four of us in the lovely room we got to stay in.-

Staying with Five Star was absolutely one of the highlights of the trail so far I for me, if not my favorite experience yet.

I'm currently hiking near mile 275. I am more than 10% done with the trail. Yesterday I took my first zero (day hiking zero miles) at a hostel in Big Bear Lake. It felt so good. I had no idea it would be so nice to not hike! I did wander to the park during the day but mostly I chatted on the phone and played cards. It was a bit of a reunion last night with many hiker friends who were a day or so behind behind me. We also celebrated the birthdays of Lilla (lovely woman from a Hungary) and Lost Boy (navigationally-challenged 18-yr-old).

-Me at mile 250!-

 -The giant pot of veggie chili I made at the hostel for everyone.-

-Peanut Butter Snickers are amazing.-

It's supposed to be hot again this week. I'm actually happy about that because last week we were challenged by a storm. There were three days of unbelievable winds that blew my tent (Aunt Amy's wonderful tent!) around and made hiking difficult and somewhat dangerous. At times I looked like a sumo wrestler with my hiking poles out in front of me, feet wide, slowly marching on the cliffside trail in gusts of 50 miles per hour. I then hiked through several inches of snow near San Gorgonio. I bit of a departure from the typical desert weather, I'd say. Hopefully it was good practice for the Sierra!

-Snow near San Gorgonio. The snow was quite a bit deeper elsewhere on the trail.-

I'm looking forward to sitting in the hot springs,  going to McDonald's at I-15 a couple days (the location is famous among hikers), and getting a visit from my Oregon friend Garik near Agua Dulce. Hopefully he'll take me away to the beach for a couple of days. :-)

Oh, I almost forgot! I have a trail name now. I'm Surgeon. It's because I've been doing "surgery" on gear - slicing my shoes, cutting the brain off my pack (a lobotomy), cutting my hydration hose, sewing a button on a friend's shirt. New adventure, new name I guess! I'll take it :).