Day 22, May 9: Mile 287 to 301
Start: Mile 286.7
End: Mile 301.3
Miles: 14.6
Ascent: 863 | Descent: 3050
G and I woke up early, and somehow I was waiting on him despite my name of Dilly Dally. 🤣 I forget if I have yet wrote on my blog that I have officially taken that trail name. So- hello, my name is Dilly Dally!
We found the rest of the group 3 miles ahead of us and chatted with them for a bit while they packed up camp. They were moving slow because we didn’t have too many miles to cover that day, so G and I kept hiking. We got to an absolutely lovely water source at Holcomb Creek, and shortly after, the others arrived.
After filtering water, I hiked with Amazon and Christina for a bit before I stopped to pee, after which I was alone. I listened to house music in my headphones to try to zone out because I was feeling tired and out of it and my feet hurt.
The music definitely helped the miles pass, because before I knew it, I came upon my friend Chris hiking up towards me on the trail! Chris lives in Wrightwood and had offered to help me out on the PCT when I was in the area.
The down in Amazon’s quilt had started to clump too much to be of much warmth to her, so she had had a couple really cold nights. Chris kindly agreed to bring her one of his sleeping bags in Arrowhead so she could have it for the next 5 day stretch before Wrightwood, where she was going to order a new one of her own. He also agreed to shuttle us into Lake Arrowhead from the trail so we could get food at a hiker favorite malt shop and resupply on trail food. Thanks Chris!!
I hiked down with Chris and found the others waiting at Deep Creek Bridge. We did a long and somewhat annoying road walk to Chris’ car. Still, we were incredibly grateful for his help because the walk would’ve been even longer otherwise!
Chris drove us to the malt shop and we all ordered milkshakes and hamburgers. Christina and I split two hamburgers- one with mushrooms and Swiss and one with BBQ sauce, onion rings and cheddar. Everything was delicious.
After chowing down, we piled back into the car to go to the grocery store for resupply. I was in the middle of a food coma so I had a hard time making decisions on what to buy, but managed to put it together.
Chris shuttled us back to the trail and we said thank you and see you soon in Wrightwood!
We hiked back to Deep Creek bridge where everyone was hanging on the sandy beach below. Another small group of all international hikers who we had met the previous day were there as well.
After relaxing in the sun for a while, and swimming in the creek for some (not me), we decided to continue on. Soon, we all reached the 300 mile marker together and had a nice little celebration! Christina and Amazon made a little archway with their trekking poles for us to go under, and each person who went under added their poles to the archway. It was a fun and silly moment.
We made it to camp near a lovely serene river. Most of us cowboy camped again because the riverbed was very sandy and not so conducive to tent stakes. It seems like it will be a cold night, so I’m bundling up tight! Goodnight!