Looks like I've got some catching up to do again! I made it to Cabazon within about a half hour of when I said I would on Sunday, which I was pretty proud of. Especially considering how difficult the previous few days had been. My family's good friend Dan came and picked me up , and I showered, shopped, and supped - sugar snap peas and strawberry shortcake! It felt pretty fantastic, and I got dropped back off at the trail on Monday feeling refreshed, and with plenty of time to find a decent campsite for the night. After Cabazon one moves to a new section of the PCT (Section C), and I printed out the maps for this section while I was with Dan, soI hadn't really gotten a chance to peruse them until I was back on the trail. The map detailed that some trail angels had a house a short hike from the highway, and welcomed hikers to camp in their yard. The ten or so miles of trail around Cabazon are pretty derelict - lots of trash, and potent exhaust from the highway, and as I was walking in there were two stray dogs prowling through the sand neither of whom seemed friendly. It seemed a good option to check out the house, and boy - what a set up! I was the only hiker there and was excitedly given the tour by the sweetest lady, Ziggy, who lives there and her friend Ron. Their whole backyard is dedicated to hikers. There was a big canopy with pieces of carpet that hikers could sleep on. A big table with a computer and phone for hikers to use, as well as food and supplies coolers with soda and gatorade, and a basket of fruit. There was a washing station, and an outside toilet for hikers, and they were just the nicest people offering tea, coffee, or a footbath while I got myself settled. These people really love the trail, and are not quite able to hike it themselves anymore, so they get pleasure from helping other people hike it. I'm pretty blown away by all of it. I was munching an apple and going over my new maps when I heard the gate open and a chorus of voices coming into the yard. It was the British couple - Tanya and Neil! And three others. A girl named Rabbit who i have hiked with a little before. She has a lot going for her in terms of me liking her. Her name is Rabbit(I like someone named Rabbit!) She is from Florida(I like someone from Florida!) She is 22(I like someone who is 22!) And she is carrying a mouse named Ella. Ella is pretty cute. She sleeps in a glove and has a lil cold right now. I fed her some carrot last night, so we are friends. I hope she makes it. The other hikers were a girl named Nighengale and a guy called Wolf(their trail names). It was a fun evening. Our hosts provided salad and ice cream, and it was a clear, balmy night. In the morning there was cereal, juice, and fruit served at 6. And I was the first to start hiking just before 7. The first stretch was though; the with mill farms, and the wheezing and wooshings those giant pinwheels make echoed through the valley welcoming me in the San Bernadino mountains. I walked steadily and happily up onto the ridges of the mountains. It's so beautiful. It's kind of crazy that this trail, so huge, and all encompassing in my mind, can be so small. Barely a foot across most of the time it can completely disappear behind a desert shrub, or be totally obscured by a rock the size of a football. As I look down into the valley from way up at the top of a mountain it's like a squiggly intestine of some tiny rodent coiling through the mountains. I just love it. Some of the views today were seriously out of control, and the desert flowers have exploded everywhere. The fiercest reds, oranges, yellows, pinks, purples, and blues. It makes me want to wear more than just black all the time, if I could look as good as these flowers. Aside from smelling worse than anything ever, and having about half of California stuck under my fingernails, I do feel pretty glamorous out here. I strutted around for most of the day with my sun umbrella - my parisole - and I definitely think I look like a class act twirling that thing around. I have some great sunglasses, and I wear my hair tied back with a green bandana. My white( well used to be) collared button up also feels pretty sophisticated, and I love my little purple shorts. I also feel like a Greek goddess cause of all the dried fruit and nuts I have been eating. That's all Greek goddesses eat. Fat little purses of tender fig meat with all those tiny, crunchy seeds. Dried mango is my favorite, I like it in strips so it feels like your french kissing someone with a candy tongue when you eat it. I have a ton of dried apricot which I'm not liking as much these days - like chewing a sugared grandpa ear, but they used to be my favorite so I'll finish this bag for nostalgia's sake. They do taste good cut up and put into supper dishes. I cut some up and put them in my couscous tonight. That was a fiasco. I am in ant city right now, so I have to be really careful with my food. First thing I did when starting to make supper is open my bag of couscous, and the couses go everywhere! All over the spot I'm fixing to sleep in. There was no way to pick up all the little couses, so I had to relocate my entire camp. I am getting to new animal part of the trail up hereNot as high a chance of encountering a rattle snake, but more of a chance of encountering a bear!
Tomorrow is going to be a very tough day, so I need to go to sleep. It is going to be hot, and I climb something like 500 feet over not-so-many miles.
Goodnight y'all @8:45pm
-Georgia-
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