While waiting to go into our final breakfast at the Julian Hotel, I noticed someone who looked like a thru-hiker. You know…puffy jacket and crocs. I started talking to Jeff and discovered he had started on March 1. Bunny and I invited him to join us at our table. Now come a string of coincidences that surprised even us. Jeff’s trail name is Patches. Last year when we hiked the AT (everybody drink) one of the first people we met on the trail was Patches.
Patches ‘19 (henceforth Patches) finished the AT in 2017 but did some additional sections in 2018. Namely Maine. Patches was telling us he had met Pappy in Maine which is where Bear, Sassy, Good Chip Norris, Bunny and I met Pappy at Pine Ellis in Maine (on the AT last year—everybody drink). When I said Pine Ellis, Patches started describing Naomi to us. He and his wife were just a week or two ahead of us through Maine. They even stayed at Whitehouse Landing (I may not have said AT, but it was implied—drink).
He then told us he got a ride to the start of the trail from a guy he met on the AT (drink) that lives in San Diego. We asked who it was and he said “Forager Mike.” We couldn’t believe it. The four of us had met Forager Mike in New Hampshire just before we headed into the AMC Highland Center (yes, drink). He was heading sobo then and we became friends with him on Instagram. It’s a small hiking world and I would like to hike all of the trails.
We exchanged numbers with Patches and then went to get ready. He’s staying in Julian for another night but we can’t afford to take another zero. He’ll probably catch up and pass us in a few days. It was a miserable, rainy day in Julian with snow predicted for tomorrow. We just didn’t want to risk getting snowed in. We still have nightmares of Gatlinburg where we got snowed in for 5 days last year on the AT (that’s a drink).
Check out time was 11 and we debated staying until then in the hopes that the weather might improve. We just couldn’t wait until then because there’s no water along the trail for another 14 miles. We have to hitch a ride for 12 miles back to the trail and it will probably be difficult to get someone to pick us up in the drizzle. We left at 10 and saw another couple of hikers trying to hitch a ride. This was Ivy and Dave. We didn’t want to spoil their chances so we moved on down the road. Within 10 minutes we had a ride.
Rosie from Zambia picked us up. She was on her way to work across the valley. Rosie has lived in Julian for about 5 years. Right now she has her own art and video business. She is working on a new craft—chainsaw art. We talked about trails we have done and places we’ve been. Rosie has been to 43 countries so far. Her preferred method of travel is by sea. She has crewed on a sailboat at sea for a few months. When we mentioned the Camino, she said she wants to hike that with her mother who is 81. The 12 miles flew by and Rosie dropped us off right where Mike had picked us up 2 1/2 days ago.
The trail was slow going for us to start. Not because it was hard or steep, but because it was so damn beautiful. Everything we looked at was new to us. The clouds were hanging on the mountain where Julian is, but we had partly cloudy/partly blue skies with mid 50 temperatures. It was an ideal hiking day if a bit windy at times.
While we were snapping photos of different cacti and looking at all the flowers, we saw a cop car pull up behind us. I wondered what was going on and then I saw Dave and Ivy putting their packs on. They must be bad types If the police drive them 12 miles out of town and drop them off on the side of the road. We ended up leapfrogging with them for a bit. Dave is from Tampa, FL and Ivy is from Alaska. They ended their day around 3 setting camp up after about 9 miles. We needed to keep going because we only had 3 liters of water between us and needed to get to the next water cache.
The miles continue to fly by in the desert. We spent the first 5 miles today climbing a couple thousand feet up to a ridge overlooking the desert floor. It was windy at the elevation and the skies looked threatening all around us, but not over us. We managed to walk in the only open spot of sky for most of the day. When we left Ivy and Dave, the winds picked up more and the temperature started dropping. We just wanted to make it to the water before dark.
All day long, Bunny had been a hiking machine. I had to beg her to take breaks. She was determined to set up camp before dark. Finally around 4, she started wearing down. I was glad because my legs felt like lead. We made it to the spot we wanted to camp at just around 5:30. There was already another couple set up. Patches had told us about them—Warren and Diane. He had mentioned an older couple from Idaho. We chatted a bit, but had to get set up and get water before dark. I’m sure we’ll talk more to them tomorrow morning. It just feels nice to finally start seeing more people on the trail.
EFG