Miles 316.6 to 332.4

I woke up this morning and got on trail about 9am.... still confused on whether Nathan was behind or ahead of me. We had made plans two days ago to all make it to this picnic area today near Silverwood Lake, where supposedly you could order pizza and beer delivery - something that I had brought to the attention of Nathan and his dad and they were excited about and had mentioned everytime we leapfrogged over the past few days.

(Quick shoutout here to Charlie - who had on his own hosted Spirit and his wife at our house the night before and brought them back to trail at Big Bear this morning... a trail angel in the making :))

As I was walking, I started thinking 1) it was really hot and pizza actually sounded disgusting 2) if a pizza delivery guy could get to trail... so could Charlie.... I pulled out my phone and checked... Silverwood Lake was only 35 minutes from our house... I called Charlie and asked if he wanted to have a picnic lunch date.... and could he bring some salad and sandwiches.... he agreed it sounded like a nice idea... I had 8 miles to the picnic area and we set up a time to meet....

I ran into a new hiker breaking up camp at the next water source...Mike (or Mark? So much easier to remember names when it is a trail name) from Seattle ... we talked about the plans for the day and agreed pizza didn’t really sound appetizing in this heat... I mentioned Charlie and asked if he wanted anything ... he said an ipa would be great... I texted Charlie - add one ipa to the list.

About 2 miles to go... I was taking a shade break and another new hiker (can’t remember his name, but I recognized him from the game my new friends at the hot springs had created -he was one that came down, looked around and went right back up) came up... we talked plans and goals for the day... I again mentioned my lunch date and asked if he would like anything... yep.. a cold ipa... another text to Charlie... one more ipa...

As I was texting, Nathan came up from behind me... he said he had been pushing it to catch me all day... he was ready for our pizza... uhoh... I told him my new lunch date plan... did he want anything? A cold Arizona iced tea... and you guessed it... an ipa for his dad! Poor Charlie.... (also, Nathan, who had camped hidden at the water source where I met Coppertone, mentioned Coppertone had root beer floats at the trailhead that morning... sad I missed out on those... but glad Coppertone was back to trail magic...)

Around this spot... in the heat of the day... the PCT follows along the road... blacktop walking makes it even hotter... Nathan and I were trucking along together ... excited to reach the picnic spot... as we climber around the corner and saw the lake and all the people way down the cliff in the water ... I mentioned how tempting it was to just jump off the cliff into the lake (not a safe idea) and Nathan said he was having the same thought... another corner and we saw bathrooms, shaded picnic tables and we basically ran down the 500ft side trail with our packs... excited for our cold beverages and a dip in the lake... we threw off our packs... Nathan downed the last bit of his water... and was taking off his shoes to get into the lake... I looked around... there was no road in sight....hmmm... I checked guthooks (our app) .... yep...there was a comment this was the place... a side trail supposedly led up to the road.... I looked... no side trail.... uhoh...wait was that the road way up there.... I stopped Nathan just as he was about to dip in... something isn’t right I said... he asked the people nearby how they got here... they said their boat... we looked around... everyone was there by boat... My phone rang ... Charlie was at the spot I sent him too... he said there was a lake about 2000 ft in elevation below the road....and no way down... wth? I called Scout who had posted a pic of his own trail side pizza delivery a few days before... he confirmed I was in the wrong spot... another 2 miles ahead he told me... the next picnic area... I felt so bad for Charlie when I called him and told him another hour of walking for me and more driving for him...(after his 2 hour round trip this morning for Spirit)....

It was 2pm the hottest part of the day... Nathan and I both were feeling a bit defeated from our high of having arrived to realize we hadn’t and it was bushwhacking straight up to get back up to the trail, where we had euphorically sprinted down... i gave Nathan half of my water and I took off on a mission - fueled by “girlfriend who had screwed up guilt” ... Nathan said he had never seen me hike so fast... Charlie called - the line of cars to get Into the park was 40 deep and barely moving he said... from heat, exhaustion and my own feelings of messing up... I just broke down and started crying.... what was supposed to be a fun meetup was turning into a convoluted disaster for him....

By the time we made it to the “right” picnic area... I was so depleted from everything I could barely eat my salad- more or less any of the other goodies I had asked for... and So exhausted... I could barely make conversation or the visit enjoyable for amazing Charlie.... luckily, Nathan, hiker a and hiker b... excited about their ipas... helped make it a fun afternoon.

Nathan decided to camp there and wait for his dad ... and get his pizza and wings... the rest of us took off for a few more miles at the end of the day. I said goodbye to the worlds best boyfriend - apologizing profusely for the hassle- and sat at the trail behind the others for about an hour resting before the climb up.

I made it to my intended campsite right as the sun was going down... and enjoyed the pasta salad and cookie from Olive Avenue market that Charlie had brought that I couldn’t eat that afternoon.

As I fell asleep... I was grateful again for Charlie and thought about how patient and understanding he was... and how I hoped I could gain a little of that from my journey on the trail.... especially patience .... something I have never had as a strong quality...