Day 25 - Saturday, May 22

Cowboy Camping near San Francisquito Canyon Road (mile 478.2).  Walked 23.8 miles today.

About all of the 20 or so hikers camped at the "field" got up about the same time to start heading out.  The day began with a couple miles of roadwalking through the town of Agua Dulce.  We then began a long but steady climb up into the mountains.

Part of the way up, some guys on motorbikes started coming up the trail.  This is an issue because the trail is supposed to be closed to all motorized vehicles.  When they got to me, I didn't turn around and completely ignored them as I hiked along at 3 mph, making them wait.  After about 100 yards, they turned around.  Entered a burn area that must have burned last year.

My pinky toe on my left foot was hurting all morning (I had drained a blister there last night but I guess it reformed).  Each step hurt, but I didn't want to stop here, I wanted to get to the next water source which was only a few more miles.

I finally reached the spring to find a bunch of hikers I hadn't met before, save one, Sophie, who I met yesterday.  They gradually rolled out and I snacked, got some water, and performed the necessary surgery on my now large blister.  Flying and Snowflake showed up followed shortly by Rambo who is originally from Washington State but has been living in Virginia for the past few years.  We chatted briefly and then I headed out.  She got her name because she carries a large Rambo-style knife, so maybe if I hike with her, my former co-workers will stop bugging me about carrying bear spray ;)

Hiked on, first down, then up past a view of a large reservoir.

Stopped at a campsite where Sophie was parked in the little bit of shade available and we rested while trying to avoid being bitten by the local fire ants.  Flying and Snowflake showed up and we hiked on together.  Later in the afternoon, Snowflake and I were hiking together and chatting when suddenly she stepped in a low spot on the edge of the trail and went down hard, grabbing her ankle, clearly in pain while shouting some choice profanities.  I tried to help her out, immobilizing it until we assessed that it wasn't broken.  "Luckily" she had just rolled it really hard.  I have her my bandana to use for compression as well as a couple of ibuprofen.  She was up after a few minutes and walking slowly, but managing.  It was a vivid reminder that things can change very quickly out here and hikes can end in an instant.  Flying caught up and we all pushed on together slowly.  We came around a corner to find Appleseed who was re-creating the "Bridge of Death" scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  We both were allowed to pass.

A little bit later, Flying and I were hiking together (Snowflake behind us) and stopped to chat with a hiker named Feather who said she had heard someone screaming in pain a little while ago.  About 5 minutes later, Snowflake hiked up.  Turn out the screaming had been her.  She had rolled her ankle AGAIN, but was still able to walk on it.  We finally got to the Green Valley Fire Station where there was serendipitously a cooler with some ice in it.  I got some for Snowflake and she iced her ankle.

We then backtracked about 0.1 miles to a water cache where there were some good campsites sheltered from the wind.  I walked back in the trees to find a site (there always seems to be another site in the back) and came upon Katie and Ally (now known as Old Dubs) who we hadn't seen since dinner in Idyllwild.  They had actually seen us a couple days before from a trail angel's car as we stood at the gate on the closed road the day we left Wrightwood.  I ate dinner with them while we caught up on all our adventures once we last spoke.  It was a great time with tons of laughs.  It felt like seeing long lost friends again even though it's only been two weeks since I've seen them.  Old Dubs' ankle is hurting and she's walking slowly, so it seems everyone is a little beat up.  Hopefully healing soon.