Episode 11: Day 17-18

Day 17:

Woke up bright and early, pumped up, knowing that there is only 5.5 miles between me and my box.

Met Ryan and Xavier at the water and walked together to Ziggy and the Bear (famous Trail Angel house ).

Got there, got my box, and chowed down. Completely demolished a whole day’s worth of food, and it was glorious.

So yet again, we face a fire closure on the trail. 30ish miles of trail closed with no officially blessed walk around/detour.

I was on the phone with my mom, discussing what to do, and she said that when she spoke to Ziggy (of Ziggy and the Bear) on the phone, Ziggy said “most people are taking a bus or a shuttle up to Big Bear.” And there was my answer, I said, “Mom, we both know that I am not ‘most people.’ I’m going to walk around the closure!”

I came out here to walk the most enjoyable continuous footpath from Mexico to Candana, and that’s what I’m going to do. I would rather walk a continuous footpath from Mexico to Washington than to start in Mexico and end in Canada with some parts skipped along the way. So if the PCT isn’t available, I’ll take the next best thing, even if that’s along a busy freeway. I’m committed.

But hey, that’s just me. People didn’t come out here to road walk, and I totally get that. For every person out here, there is a different goal. More power to them. Hike your own hike!

VERY fortunately, three other guys wanted to do the walk around as well, and even more fortunately, THEY HAD AN ACTUALL PLAN. So I teamed up with Matt, Shawn, and Brian. They planned on leaving by 4:30am to beat the heat and make some big miles. They just decided that we were going to walk 24 miles the next day. I didn’t know you could just decide that…

THE Plan: From whitewater hike along highway 62 to Yucca Valley. Take Pioneertown Rd to Rimrock. Take Burns Canyon Rd to 2N02. Take 2N01 to the trail, mile 255ish. Total = 52 Miles.

NEARO – 5.5 Miles and that’s it! Feels good to take it easy every once in a while. At mile 205.

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Day 18:

We got out of there by 4:45am! Already we have done better than I expected! Proud of us already.

Why didn’t more people do the walkaround? It’s pretty cool so far. We walked through a field of wind turbines. SO SURREAL.

So confession, I had originally planned on bailing after 10 miles, since I didn’t think I could handle 24 miles of road walking (the asphalt is rough on the body… NOT good for you), so I booked and AirBNB in Morongo Valley.

Good news part A: I still felt strong after 10 miles and decided to push on.

Good news part B: the guys were totally cool about it, and we decided to chill there until the sun let up.

FINALLY TOOK A SHOWER

Headed out by 5pm, and hiked along the highway, for a long time.

My left shin started to seriously bother me (and bother is putting it very lightly), and it just got worse as the day went on. NOW I get why people didn’t do the walk around…

BUT WE MADE IT. 24 MILES. YOU CAN JUST DECIDE TO DO THAT!

But my shin is REALLY hurting now. Not sure how I will feel tomorrow. But for tonight, I feel victorious.

Sleeping in an ACTUAL BED at the Travel Lodge, in Yucca Valley, CA.

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Turbine town: