DAY 9: RODRIGUEZ

April 28.

We are, as of Sunday, camped at mile 73.5 on a ledge with a view of a desert valley.

My posts will be rudimentary for a while due to lack of service, plug-ins, phone charge, and energy.... it has been difficult to muster up the energy during the day to type on my phone.

Got a ride with Julie and Okie Girl back out to the Sunrise Trailhead at 9:00am. I can't get over the insane amount of kindness we have already received in the way of helpful trail angels, and generous strangers. At Kick Off yesterday a man came over to our campsite with a jug of chocolate milk and was offering us tall glasses of it. I couldn't believe it.

Met up with Carrot!! Finally. She left a day early from Kick Off in order to complete the section she didn't finish so that she could be right where we left off! It was perfect timing. We make a great team.

Still boiling hot outside, which means we will be night hiking tonight. We put in 6 miles off the bat, during the hottest part of the day and were DRAINED by the time lunch came around. So we lounged for a few hours in the single sliver of shade we could find. It was extremely uncomfortable, because it was a steep slant of sharp dried leaves, and I was enraged most of the afternoon because it had kept me from taking a proper nap.

The four of us hiked on once it got cooler, stopping at Rodriguez Spur Road to get water. A few other hikers were there gearing up for either night hiking, or sleeping.

Hiked on into the darkening evening, sun setting behind the gigantic desert mountains. It was surreal. I love night hiking, not only because it is twenty times cooler, but because it is jaw-droppingly beautiful. I regret not being able to see very much through this section of canyon traversing, but it was gorgeous by headlamp as well.

Came about 15 miles total today, better mileage than we have been doing, but still "slow" in terms of thru-hiker pace. We are hoping to catch up to some of our friends up ahead soon.

Slept out under the stars for the first time ever (Cowboy Camping) and LOVED it. All four of us laid out, tentless under the stars. I am surprised with myself and my lack of fear sleeping without the false security of my tent. The only complaint - THE MOON. Is is so bright - literally keeps you up at night.

My entries have become more of a play by play of the day, and less of what I want them to be... I am going to order a mini-portable keyboard (Carrot has one!) and things will get easier from there. Please go to Carrot, Ben and Angela's blogs in order to get a more eloquently written posts on the past few days - these 3 can really write!

DAY 8: KICK OFF AND RELAX

April 27.

Zero day number 3.

For those of you who don't know, a Zero day is when you do ZERO MILES that day, so when I refer to it, it will mean we spent the night in a town, perhaps, and then laid around ALL DAY the next day, spending a second night and leaving in the morning.

We're currently soaking in our 3rd one.

Recap of Saturday's events at Kick Off (since it is easier to do bullet style lists than write a novel):

- Slept in
- Felt like I had heat stroke, even though our campsite was in the shade and I was supine all day. It was hot!
- Took a shower
- Went to all of the vendor tables and obtained a lot of extra food I did not need.
- Gave away all of my free Pro Bars
- Laid on my sleeping pad in the shade for probably 4 hours
- Tried to listen to talks but got very sleepy every time I had to concentrate.
- Got to know our camp mates, had a good time.
- Sat at a picnic table for too long
- One special thing that DID happen, was our friend Jeff Kish aka "Siddhartha" came over to our campsite, plucked the three of us out of our group and requested we come with him. We were taken to his campsite where all of the previous years (2012) hikers were camped and partying. He had a special celebratory beer waiting for us to be opened and toasted. It was really cool.

We also took our class photo!!! You will see down below. I'm upset I do not have the ability to attach captions to each photo.

Feeling mildly antsy about not hiking for so long - I'm definitely ready to get back out on the trail.

DAY 7: ADZPCTKO

Friday April 26th. More days of rest.

Another continental breakfast!

The allure of the hotel beds, showers and sheets was too much to pass up and we wound up staying 2 nights, 1 day, in Julian, which is a full "zero day".

Woke up in time for the 7:30am breakfast downstairs.

I think this is the nicest place I've ever stayed, in my entire life. Quaint, cozy, comfortable. They even let me have 4 packets of oatmeal from the breakfast bar.

Caught our pre-arranged ride to Kick Off back with Okie Girl and Julie at noon. Met their dogs Tilly and Little Dog and enjoyed their company. THANK YOU a million Julie and Okie Girl!!!!

Kick Off is an annual event held on the last weekend of April at Lake Morena. It is made up of thru-hikers, past thru-hikers, future thru-hikers, trail angels, volunteers, and friends & family of the above.

We arrived at 1:30pm, went to our designated campsite and immediately set up camp, wanting to get all of our camp chores out of the way so that we could just relax and hang out.

We found our old crew we had started with at Scout and Frodo's house, Patrick (now going by "The Manchurian"), "Mr. Green", Kat... and also finally met up with Carrot, who was in San Diego for a bit healing an achilles injury, which was exciting!

It was quite a little reunion.

At Kick Off they feed hikers breakfast and dinner - which is awesome - and on Friday night we had bean and cheese burritos in the field. It felt like summer camp, at dusk, where you don't really know anyone, but you sort of do, and you're really amped, and excited but disoriented?

Played cards, drank beer, got to know some of the people we would be spending this grueling summer with.
Also met a surprising number of people who are from/spent time in Israel, which is very interesting.

One of the best parts of this journey is (and I know this sounds cheesy) the people, and particularly, meeting people from around the world. A man named Gideon in our campsite was born and raised in South Africa and lives in Israel AND was in the army there. He is also a Israeli cop. All of the people we've ultimately ended up hanging around have a great sense of humor, and that is V E R Y important. I need that energy around in order to complete the trail, I think. People that get it.

Sorry for the delay in posts, I do not have service at Lake Morena and we just spent 3 days there. Having Verizon is usually a good think, but in Southern California, it is proving to be more than irritating.

It is hideously hot here - like, an oven.
Missing the Portland dampness right about now.

DAY 6: JULIAN SLUMBER PARTY

April 25th.

Spontaneous rest day in the town if Julian, CA.

Woke up, delighted, after nearly 12 hours of sleep. Couldn't have been a cozier night at the Julian Lodge. Sauntered down to the continental breakfast just before it ended and gorged on Eggo Waffles, taking care of business in the form of map planning, list making, phone call making and tying up loose ends back at home.

It was a pleasant, and slow, morning. We pondered the idea of heading down to Kick Off a day early, but ultimately decided to stay yet another night at the hotel. This is a true "Zero Day"... Our first of many, and much needed.

Ben saw a chiropractor and Angela continued to rest and tended to her foot pain.

It was fun to meet all of the hikers coming through town. Some of them, we hadn't seen since meeting them at Scout and Frodo's, and have been wondering how far they'd gotten....

- Took as many showers as possible.
- watched television.
- ate at the Miners Diner, where the fries and shake were amazing but it smelled like an outhouse inside.
- cleaned everything I own in the bathroom sink: clothing, baggies, socks, food bottles, everything that was rocky/dusty.
- met a feral cat.
- mostly just took care of business.

Excited to go to Kick Off tomorrow back at Lake Morena, mike 20. Kick Off (or ADZPCTKO) is going to be a good chance to meet other hikers, which there are going to be 1,000 of...

It's going to be crowded. It's like a festival of sorts. I will update when I'm there with photos and a better description of what it's like.

ALSO, VERY IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE:

PLEASE READ BEN'S BLOG - its fantastic and hilarious!
benwalks.blogspot.com

AND ANGELA'S BLOG - a multimedia adventure with live audio!
www.trail-fresh.com

AND THIS BLOG BY OUR NEW FRIEND CARROT QUINN - an extremely well written blog that describes the trail experience perfectly. And its hilarious.
carrotquinn.wordpress.com

We are all describing our days separately, and it's interesting to get the well rounded, 360 view from all perspectives.

Miss you all in Portland!!