DAY 35: 24 CHALLENGE

miles: 10

THE SAUFLEY'S.

What a magical place of rest - the best reboot! Yogi describes The Saufley's in her Guidebook as a place where you can go to get all of your chores done with "corporate efficiency" and ease. Donna Saufley herself washes everyones clothes and provides bins of (spectacularly outdated and wacky) loaner clothes.

My piece of chocolate cake.

Ben chose an outfit of light denim jeans, a crewneck PCT sweatshirt, and a belt. He looked fabulous. I sported a hot pink silk dress complete with shoulder pads, which I felt mildly ridiculous in, but loved every second of it.

Hanging clothes to dry...

We woke late, everyone else had already biked down to the cozy bakery in town and eaten. To cruise down the country road on 2 wheels was pure bliss. The speed! The wind in our hair! No helmet! No care! Too small mountain bike with minimal breaks! Skirt flapping! Bliss! How fast it is to get from point A to point B when you are not simply walking was astounding.

At the bakery I consumed: 1 cinnamon roll, 1 apple spice coffee cake, 1 large iced coffee, 1 chocolate ice cream protein shake, 2 croissants oozing with cheddar and avacado and ordered 1 gigantic three layered chocolate ganache cake to go. YES.

G - Dub (another character: older fellow, living in Kentucky, funny, strong hiker) and Sour Cream were at the bakery when we arrived and we all joined forces at a table outside. They had already eaten about 5 meals that morning but continued to purchase baked goods. The calorie needs are high, folks.

Today was a day of ambling around the property, visiting other hikers in their cots, cots filled with candy and junk food, and packing up. The goal - to set off late in the afternoon towards the Anderson's (the next Trail Angel stop) a mere 24 miles away. Not wanting to night hike it in one huge stretch (sleep deprivation) and not wanting to hike the 24 miles in the burning daylight the next day, we chose to do 10 in the evening, and 14 the next morning, hopefully arriving by early afternoon.

Here's the thing: some hikers choose to participate in what is called "the 24 challenge" which is 24 miles, 24 beers, 24 hours.

Ben, Angela and I opted out of this challenge, favoring feeling well and sleeping well, however, a few folks in our crew this particular evening would be doing it.

I'm not sure if I've officially introduced Smiles and Dr. Slosh, but they seem to be the same pace as us and are setting out on this very night. Smiles (aka Erin) and Dr. Slosh (aka Brett), are a couple from Southern California that are similar humans to us. Also, strangely enough, Ben and Erin went to high school together in Pasadena... small world!

We get along great with them, they are hilarious and exuberant.

Another character that has entered the picture is a fellow named Lunchbox from Tennessee. He is a hilarious addition to our team, that seems to be growing exponentially.

It's funny - this is the first day that we feel like we are finally seeing all of the same faces, getting to know our fellow hikers better, and really "bonding" if you want to get cheesy with it. It's been a lot of fun to have the chance to get to know other people in a relaxed setting, as opposed to meeting people out on the trail, often when you are stopped for just a few moments to catch your breath or eat a snack and move on. The only other time to really chit-chat with other hikers is in camp in the evenings which can be tricky because it has often been dark when we arrive in camp, and people are usually quite tired by that point in the day and retreat to their tents fairly early.

So, in towns and at Trail Angel's houses is the ultimate way to spend quality time with other hikers.

Other characters of note that have entered the picture:

Starfox - we had met him previously in Wrightwood, but never hiked together. He has randomly bunked up in Angela, Carrot, and Sour Cream here at the Saufley's and I may say he meshes well with our group on many fronts. He's 27, post-college too, similar lifestyle and life situation, and we find him hilarious. He's from Melbourne, Australia and this is his first time in the United States!

Sunset - it was my first time meeting him, but Angela had gotten to know him a little earlier on, he's great. Our age-ish, from San Francisco, and he has some spooky mutual friend stuff goin' on with Angela.

Although we seem to have acquired a fun group of people (even in this short span of a few days at the Saufley's) to loosely hike with, we have (in a way) lost Carrot for the time being. This morning in the early a.m., before Ben and I were even awake, she set out on her own in order to get some higher mileage days in. She has been a great addition to our team (and man, were we quite the power group for a while) but her pace is slightly faster than ours, and we plan to stick around the Saufley's for a while and take a full zero day at the Anderson's. Perhaps our paths will cross again in the future! You never know out here.

As the evening progressed, everyone got a little looser, having a blast jammin' to jams on Angela's portable speaker, eating snacks, petting the dogs, and telling stories. It became apparent we were not going to get out to the trail until after dusk, very quickly... everyone had had a few beers, Dr. Slosh had joined the 24 challenge at this point, and Lunchbox decided to night hike with us (also competing in the 24 challenge).

Sour Cream and Starfox hangin' in their cot area...

Finally managed to get our act together and leave around 8pm (?)... it was dark. A kind Trail Angel who was helping out at the Saufley's agreed to shuttle us in his huge van to the trailhead that night.

Headlamps flipped on, shuffling in the bags, beers in backpacks, beers in hands, music playing on the speaker, we set off...

.... and what a magical night hike it was. Stars overhead, moon out - lighting the rolling landscape, hills hills hills (unfortunately and unexpectedly - we were buzzed enough to not care), and lots of boisterous laughing breaks.

Man I love these people.