The winds in the desert are baffling to me. Deathly still for 5 minutes and then you can begin to hear a far off locomotive. The locomotive barreled towards us and hit the tent with the force of a 40 mph wind for a full minute and then stopped…deathly still once again. This cycle repeated all night long.
We set up near some bushes in the hopes of having a wind break, but we chose the wrong side. The gusts were so strong and the soil so sandy that our tent stakes wouldn’t hold. Three times our tent got blown down. Eventually I resorted to tieing off to a cactus like shrub and hoping that its roots didn’t pull out as easily as our tent stakes did. By then, the tent was sagging so bad that everything was loose and it flapped like hell with every gust. Sleep was an unknown commodity last night (even with a Benadrylled Bunny beside me).
I did doze periodically. I woke up fully at 6 when the cycle suddenly stopped. The stillness was too much. After my morning perimeter check (must I spell it out?), I made my lucky wife breakfast in bed for the 8th time in a row. She’s the luckiest woman in the world. Just ask me and I’ll tell you so.
With slightly less than 9 miles to go today, and the vast majority of that downhill, we were hoping to be done hiking by 2p even though we didn’t start hiking until 9. We were to the road by 12:30 hitching a ride. We are beginning to believe as we get a little stronger and the days get a little longer, we might actually be able to get in a few 20 mile days.
The hike was easy and beautiful. We dropped over 2000’ to the desert floor and had stunning view after stunning view the entire way. The miles go so much faster with the wide open expanses. The road looked like it was just a mile away until you saw a car driving down it looking smaller than a matchbox car I had as a kid. (Actually, I never had matchbox cars when I was a kid, but I had friends that did. Actually, I didn’t have friends as a kid, just some playmates that wouldn’t beat me up on a regular basis. In fact, I didn’t have toys as a kid, just sticks and a coke bottle to entertain myself with.)
Some comments on Guthook mention taking up to 40 minutes to snag a ride into Julian. We got on the road and put our thumbs out, the second car slowed down and then sped back up…psyche! Bunny saw a bicyclist coming down a side road that started motioning for us, but, hey, a ride is a ride. If he’s willing to peddle the two of us with packs, I’m willing.
Mike was just finishing up his ride and motioned to a parked SUV just behind us off the road. We weren’t even 2 minutes on the road trying to hitch a ride. What was even more amazing is that he lived less than halfway to town yet he drove us directly to the hotel we wanted to stay at. He even drove us around town and recommended dining options for us, one of which we chose tonight. Mike is retired and has lived in lots of places: Oregon, Hawaii, the Adirondacks in NY, San Francisco, San Diego, Utah, and for the last 6 years, Julian.
After Mike dropped us off, we went in and got a room for tonight and tomorrow night. The Julian Hotel was started by a former slave from the state of MO (according to a historical marker out front) so we felt an immediate kinship with a former Missourian that also had good reason to leave the state. It was not even 2p before we had a room and we didn’t even think we’d be done hiking by then.
The rest of the afternoon revolved around food with an occasional chore thrown in. We have been craving salads ever since we thought we were going to get one in Mt Laguna but had a Hot Pocket instead. We finally got our salads at Julian Cafe and Bakery. After lunch we headed to the Post Office to get a couple of packages with more food and gear. We were afraid our packs were getting too light and comfortable so we wanted to nip pleasant hiking in the bud.
After showering, we headed down to “high tea” in the parlor. Yes, this is a classy place, but with it being midweek they drop their standards and rates so lowlifes, such as myself, (Bunny only gets dragged down to my level through association) can spend a night or two. We met a lovely couple, whom I correctly identified as English before I even heard them talk because they asked for cream with their tea. Bunny devoured the pastries while I, uncharacteristically, spent the next hour and a half talking with the couple. They were intrigued (and probably bored) by our lifestyle choices.
All that was left after tea was to have a quiet supper (yes, we are thru-hikers and are trying to prevent early onset of hiker hunger) followed by a late bed time. It was already 6:30 before we even headed to the restaurant—scandalously way past hiker midnight. What can I say, we’re rebels.
EFG
Your pictures are fantastic! Glad you are including more in your blog.
Thanks. I’m working on your daughter to do more this year and my nagging is working 😉