DAY 24: WHAT IT'S LIKE TO SLEEP IN A HORSE CORRAL

miles: 20

Managed to do a 20 mile day today even though we got hiking at noon. We all "love" to get into camp when it is dark.

"Checked out" of the hostel at 10am (just walked away), Sarge was nowhere to be found. Chatted with a few hikers who were enjoying Bud Light first thing in the morning.

Found a hat in the hiker box that we had a fun time cutting up in order to allow my bun to fly out of. This is my issue with hats: I like to wear my hair up, and hats look silly/are impractical/don't work with this hair-do, so we cut a giant flap into this hat and now I have a bun-hole.

Perfect.

Aloha saw us attempting to hitch to the Post Office and spun around and gave us a lift!! AMAZING. He even waited for us while we exploded our bounce boxes/resupply boxes and dropped us off at the trailhead. I couldn't believe it.

Toyo and Goku were at the Post Office as well, arranging and organizing their individual explosions as well. They are hilarious. We shared foods from our boxes.

Us with Aloha.

Back on the trail, today we mean business, MUST. BUST. OUT. 20. MILES. TODAY.

And we did! The terrain, for the most part, was unremarkable, so I didn't take a lot of photos, however, the sunset was splendid. I love hiking at sunset as the lighting turns from bright, to pink, to orange, to purple, to a color that I cannot even describe, dousing the landscape in a rich hue.

Our lunch along the creek, with Smiles and Dr. Slosh. I ate a meal of Nutella, Teddy Grahams, and butter. I thought it'd be a good idea to bring a stick of butter... and it WAS a good idea (and I ate half of the stick in one day, spread thickly upon an entire bag of english muffins), except for the fact that it became a sack of melted butter in a matter of moments. Very unappetizing.

We ended the day in a large (I mean LARGE), exposed burn area. A lot of people don't like burn zones (they're "unattractive", hot, exposed, and bleak) but I love them. As long as it is not a scorching hot day, I truly appreciate a burn zone. The landscape is trying to renew itself, small bits of life sprouting up everywhere, the trees are twisted and beautiful, and there is plenty of wildlife that thrives in snags and dead plant matter.

Descended down into a low valley just as it turned pitch black outside (tonight was a very sliver of a crescent moon) and we spotted two huge frogs, running for their life in the tall grass. They scared the shit out of me. At one point I screamed when I heard rustling and it embarassingly echoed down the canyon, where we could see tiny headlamp lights in the distance. We knew there were friends down there, at camp, getting ready for bed. We were eager to be done with day, to say the least.

Sour Cream was there! We were so happy to see him! We hadn't seen him since Idyllwild and the only time we saw him prior to that was our first day (he was part of our starting crew who stayed the night at Scout and Frodo's house).

Sour Cream is an enthusiastic, bright eyed, 20 year old Canadian from Ottawa with positive energy. We all adore him, and were THRILLED he was there, we'd been tailing him for quite some time.

First thing I always do when I go to camp, "where to sleep". I always immediately search for the best spot to set up shop. Ben and I chose the horse corral as our sleeping location, where we would lazily cowboy camp tonight in the flat-ness of the enclosed square. Something about the metal bars of the corral gave me a sense of security that I couldn't pass up.

After setting up our sleeping area, we went to the one picnic table where everyone was seated, making their meals in their pots. Fresh faces, new hikers we hadn't met yet. We chit chatted in the dark, all of us using the red-light feature on our headlamps in order to not blind one another. Breaking out into song. Papa Roaches "Last Resort" has been a common theme of the hike because Ben has had it in his head the entire time. It all feels very much like camp... very interesting dynamic out here. Not knowing anyones real, legal names, yet sharing the days ups and downs, singing together, eating a meal family-style. It's real nice. real. nice.