Day 32, May 19: Mile 444 to 452

• Start: Mile 444.3

• End: Mile 452.2

• Miles: 7.9

• Ascent: 1621 | Descent: 1390

At Amazon’s family’s house, I slept in til a luxurious 7am. After waking up slow and enjoying a cup of coffee, Amazon drove me to the post office so I could ship home the clothes I didn’t need anymore, and send a box of resupply food to Hikertown, a few days ahead. We stopped by Walmart because she needed a few things and then we returned home.

I had also shipped myself some hair dye because my purple hair had gotten ridiculously faded, and Amazon was willing to dye my hair for me. She had never done it before but she did a fantastic job.

Once we were done, I ate some leftover sushi while I waited for the color to soak in, finished a few random chores, and then began the arduous process and washing out the dye. I think I shampooed my hair 5 times and there was still purple coming out. The rinsing out process was terrifying as I didn’t want to stain their tub, but I managed to get comet on there and scrub out all the purple before it set in too much. And my hair came out nice and purple again, woohoo!

After marveling at the bright purple that will pretty much immediately fade to blond/brown mismash, I finished packing up my bag and was ready to go. Amazon’s mom drove us back to the trailhead and I was feeling emotional. It was weird being in/near LA but not home in Pasadena or any of my familiar places. I didn’t want to hike again, and I missed my family.

Still, hike on we must. We got to the trailhead, chugged some more water, and started hiking at 4:30pm. It was HOT and there was an exposed climb. I was so incredibly sweaty, immediately. The hair dye had smelled like grape and I could smell an intense grape smell coming off my head with the sweat activating the dye again.

I took it easy but was still feeling emotional and blah. I called my sister Christy and talked for 30 min and felt a lot better. I miss her!

After crossing a creepy tunnel under highway 14, I made it into the start of Vasquez Rocks. It was SO COOL. I was fascinated by the undulating rock formations towering over my head, and made a very slow mile as I stopped to take lots of pictures.

Amazon and I cowboy camped in the middle of Vasquez Rocks, and I enjoyed a cider I had packed out and delicious granola with breakfast essentials (basically powdered milk) for dinner, before laying down and passing out.