Day 15
Today's Miles: 24.2
The earliest any hiker was planning on busting out of the Beaver31 this morning was 6:00am. But sometime early in the morning someone got up to go to the bathroom and saw there were no clouds in the sky and the stars were shining brightly.....the lights came on, we all jumped up and packed and before we knew it hikers were beginning to leave as early as 5:00am. Twist and I were among the last to leave, but we were on the trail by 5:45am and hungry to put in miles after sitting through the weather for the past three days.
Our time spent waiting though, was quickly rewarded that morning with one of the best sunrises we've had yet as we skirted Bucksnort Mountain.
Snow still on the trail.
We all eagerly anticipated seeing the sun....
Here it comes!
The San Jacinto Mountains (where we will be in a few days)
Twist taking in the rays.
We enjoyed the beautiful morning sun on the snow as well as all of the animal tracks easily visible in the snow. We followed everything from Quail to Coyote to Bobcat tracks in the morning, but we had one mission that day and one mission only.....to do the most miles we've done and more importantly to become acquainted with the famous Jose Burger at Paradise Valley Cafe!
We were aiming for our biggest miles of the trip so far, but with three days rest in the RV, we were confident we could make it no problem. We flew through the first 13 miles and made it to our first and only stop of the day at Nance Canyon in four hours. We stopped and took about a 45 minute break; filtered water for the next stretch and ate a little snack. The afternoon hike would be pretty uneventful because we were pushing so hard to make the cafe in time to enjoy that burger we had been dreaming about. However, that afternoon we did see large mountain lion tracks and I got my official trail name!
Now, sitting in the RV for that many days with that many other hikers lead to a lot of awesome ideas as far as switching up some of our gear. But none was as appealing to me as changing our cooking system. There's just something about waiting another 3 minutes for my water to boil so I can start cooking and looking over to see another hiker with a JetBoil stove already cleaning up from their meal. This left me feeling there was something to be desired in our cooking department. So, as a result of my serious stove envy, I decided then and there I was going to buy myself a JetBoil for us to use the rest of the way as an early birthday present (to myself). Also due to my infatuation with the JetBoil some of the other hikers started to call me just that. But it didn't really stick.
Twist and I were both anxious to get back on the trail, but maybe I was a little more so than her, because I kept hiking so fast behind her all day that if she would stop I literally would run into the back of her. I even was told to back off a few times due to hitting her shoes with my poles.......very bad hiker etiquette, I know. But I had cabin fever! After one....two....or three....too many offenses I was ceremoniously named "Tailgate".
With only a few miles to go we pushed pretty hard and made it to Highway 74 a little before 3pm. Twist's parents were there waiting for us to enjoy a wonderful meal and to hear all about our time in the Beaver31.
Tailgate's Gus Burger
Twist's Jose Burger
We originally planned to take a zero in Idyllwild for a resupply, but due to our delay (and my stove envy) we headed back to San Diego for one day to make a run to the grocery store, mail a package and to get my JetBoil! We'll be back on the trail Tuesday and are looking to make Big Bear only a day or so later than planned now that we know we can do these kind of miles.
-Tailgate
