May 24th
N Fork Ranger Station(436.2)-Agua Dulce/Hiker Heaven(454.4)
Today’s Mileage: 18.2mi
We woke up this morning knowing that we were 18mi away from what is known as Hiker Heaven in Agua Dulce. I will talk more about that later in this entry, but first I’ll go over our hike into town.
The guys and I woke to find that a lot of other hikers made it into camp last night after doing big mileage to catch up to us. We were joined by Cow Bear and Punisher, Speed Bump Jr, Drop Dead, and the Shotgun Sisters…also Kylie and Annie were camped a bit further back and everyone had the goal of making it to Hiker Heaven today.
I did not enjoy today’s hike all that much. I am not a fan of the desert and we were definitely moving back into the warmer weather and hills. I’m so glad we have gotten lucky with hardly any heat because it just tires me out much quicker…and it wasn’t even that hot today. We got a good view of the hills as we headed down this morning.
And this is pretty much how it was for 18mi with rolling ups and downs.
Top Shelf was motivated by our pizza that we’d get in town, so he sped ahead and I hiked on my own most of the day. I enjoyed listening to more of the audiobook of The Help. We had left earlier than the speedier hikers who get to sleep in. At mile 14, two of the guys caught up with me. I mentioned how today’s hike had been difficult for me and one of them (who will remain unnamed) said he had found it to be quite easy. This particular person ALWAYS makes a point of saying how easy things are whenever anyone says something was challenging. I was not in the mood to hear it again, and it took all I had to not tell him how unattractive that part of his personality is. Afterward, I kicked myself for biting my tongue cause I know it will happen again and I won’t hold back next time cause it’s a real downer. At least I can vent here! Right after that, I ran into Top Shelf who was kindly waiting for me. We got into town and went to the pizza place we’d been dreaming of the last 100mi. It was strategically placed on the trail, so as the other hikers arrived, they came in to eat with us and we had a good group.
Going clockwise from me is General Zod, Alex, Wiz, Top Shelf, Blister, and Drop Dead.
Then we (me, Top Shelf, and Blister) headed to Hiker Heaven 1mi away. We got a hitch and didn’t even have to walk on full stomachs. Hiker Heaven(aka the Saufleys) is the home of Donna and Jeff Saufley. Here they are.
They are pretty much the official king and queen trail angels. I took a video I will post later in my summary of this section, but it is quite a well oiled machine here. As soon as hikers come in, they take our laundry and give us other clothes to wear. There is internet, our resupply packages, plenty of spots to lounge, and big tents with cots for us to sleep, and even bikes to go into town. The three of us are tented together and it’s pretty nice. Here is a group of hikers hanging out.
Tomorrow we are going to take a zero and relax. I’m looking forward to riding a boke to the grocery store:)
