Day 21

Today I woke to a very cold and windy morning. I tossed and turned a bit last night so I ended up getting up around 5am. My body felt fine given that I did a 20 mile day before. I left first and hiked quickly to warm up. I walked straight till the first water source which was about 6.5 miles. I took a short break, had some snacks, and an energy gel, then moved on. The trail followed a river for most of the day so it made water carrying very easy. I drank a liter and carried one. At the second crossing there was a large bridge and a canyon with sandy beaches. I climbed down to the beach and laid out. I washed my shirt and drank water and snacked. Hoops, Burps, Dirty Knucks, Flying, Bill Nye, and Snowflake all came down and joined. It was nice to have the company.

After the break the trail zig zagged along a steep canyon with the river at the bottom. At times there were narrow, eroded sections of sand that slopes steeply down dozens of feet which were quite sketchy. I took my time and made sure every step was intentional. I was really feeling sore the last few miles and in all did just over 22. We hit the 300 mile marker. I came down to the hot springs and there were lots of naked people there and others with speakers playing music. Immediately I wanted to leave because I get overwhelmed with too many people around. I was also the only hiker so it felt awkward. In no time hikers showed up and we all got in the hot spring. It felt amazing on my legs and feet. I soaked on and off for almost 2 hours. One man told us he met Cheryl Strayed on her thru hike right at this hot spring and was going to hike to Cajon Pass with here. Unfortunately for him I read the book “Wild” and knew she didn’t thru-hike and that she started in Mojave, not this far south. But, I let him tell his story anyway. None of us wanted to listen because he was making racist comments and was sitting naked with his legs spread. I was glad when he left.

We all set up our tents, had dinner together, laughed, and made our next day plans. I did a bit of stretching and rolling out too. My plan is for 25 tomorrow. Hoops wants to join too. Dirty Knucks is going to go slower and stay with Flying and the others. Burps for some reason kept on going past the springs.

I like the group I’m with right now. I’m speeding up a bit but honestly I think it’ll even out since I’m taking a double zero next week when Rocket visits. We shall see.