Thursday 5/17 8:54PM mile 444

The past two days have been long, hot, and poodle dog bushy.  This poodle dog bush is a vicious plant sort of like poison oak or ivy, but worse.  Rubbing up against it can leave you rashed and blistered for weeks, and more than a few hikers were hospitalized last year because of it.  The poodledog bush has completely taken over the trail in places, so there has been a lot of road walking yesterday and today.  Water was very scarce, and the long, exposed road walking wasn't easy.  I am still hiking with the Wolfpack, and we decided that since the road was pretty easy to navigate we could comfortably wait out a bit of the heat, and do some night hiking when it was cooler.  It was a velvety cool breeze evening as we walked all together up a lonely mountain road. The road took us through the hauntingly burned shell of a correctional facility that got caught in a fire up there about 3 years ago.  Ghosts and zombies seemed to be absolutely oozing out of the gaping, black windows, and out the back seats of crusted, rusted cars.  It was properly petrifying, but thrilling none the less, and even more so when we got completely turned around and had no idea what way to go.  The night was called at the end of a road that dead ended into a wide, flat turn-about.  I still fell asleep quickly and comfortably despite my proximity to all kinds of spirits and undead.  It was a good and early start today, and by 6 o'clock we were back on track ready to fill the morning with steady miles.  A KOA campground just off the trail was the destination for the day with promises of pools, pizza, and soda pop.  It was a good 18+ miles from the haunted village, but the goal was to make it before 3pm.  It got so hot and I felt like I was off trail sometimes because of how steep and overgrown things were.  Lots of tall manzamita and other shrubby, desert brush covered the trail, with lots of poodle dog brush sneaking in all over the place.  It was just before 2:30 when I collapsed into the grass at this campground.  It's been a great afternoon.  I swam and ate pizza and drank soda.  There are also a few hikers here I haven't ever seen before, so it's been fun to meet some new people.  Everyone is headed to the Saufley's house tomorrow, so it's cool to meet people now.  Early morning tomorrow, so I'm going to shut my eyes now.

-Georgia