Wolf and I were up before 7. Bunny was still snoring while I packed up most of my stuff. All she had to do was roll up my sleeping pad, take down the tent, and put my stuff in my pack. Last night, I told her how I pack it (in front of witnesses). I pack my stuff the same way every day so I’ll know immediately if something is missing. Paradise Cafe leaves the outside bathroom open for the hikers to use since they don’t open until 8. That little gesture on their part made a world of difference for me. The drive down to Palm Springs to return the rental was infinitely more pleasant (this is a drink if there is any question).
Absolutely no problem returning the car. Well, minor problem returning the car. They couldn’t close the contract and had to call Melody up in Ridgecrest, but she took care of it. While that was going on, I got rid of the liquid residual from my large coffee. Once business was done, Wolf did the same while I called for an Uber. Craig showed up so fast I didn’t think Wolf would make it. He happened to be right in the airport.
It’s almost an hour drive up to Paradise Cafe and Craig was easy to talk to. This was his first time up to the area even though he has lived in the area for decades. We suggested he bring his wife up to Idyllwild sometime because it was such a cute mountain town. When he dropped us off at the cafe, we told him it was great food and reasonably priced. He decided to park his car and come inside with us.
As we drove up, we noticed 4 tents still standing out back: Wolf’s, Ivy’s, Kevin’s, and ours. We had been up 2 1/2 hours driving all over creation to return a car and they hadn’t even bothered to do anything other than eat. Kevin came out just as we walked in and said the breakfast was amazing. Bunny came out and tried to claim they left the tents up to dry while they ate and there was a delay because of a gas problem at the restaurant. I know the truth…Bunny’s slow moving mornings are bleeding over and infecting Kevin and Ivy.
Wolf, Craig, and I went ahead and ordered breakfast while the 3 of them went to pack up (finally). We talked more with Craig. He was 50 and had just been driving Uber full time for the last few months. Last year, in July, he had put in a vacation request for 3 days off in December to go to New Orleans to celebrate his 50th. Nothing was said to him until the week before he and his wife were going when his boss said they couldn’t let him have 3 days off. If they did, everyone would want time off. He’d worked for them for 5 years. It would be too hard to cover him for that time. He asked how hard it would be to cover him for 5 days a week for 52 weeks a year. He liked New Orleans and said he’d drive Uber until he didn’t have fun with it.
Craig even shuttled the 5 of us to the trailhead when we got done eating at 11. Bunny packed all of my stuff up and even carried my pack up to the cafe. I was wearing my fleece and had to put in my pack. I opened it up and saw that Bunny had completely ignored my packing instructions. If I ever borrow her phone and try to hand it back to her, I’m hit with “is that where you found it?” and have to return it to the exact place in her pack. I thanked her for her effort and then repacked all my stuff, the right way, in front of the restaurant. I give her a “B” for effort—she did get everything in the pack even though she glaringly ignored my instructions. I ALWAYS do everything EXACTLY as she says to avoid any arguments. I’m just that easy going of a husband.
There had been well over 10 tents behind the restaurant last night, so we were expecting to see a lot of people on the trail. Wolf and I had told a few people how we had flipped up and a group of 8 hikers decided to do the same and avoid the snow down here. We were surprised that there was no one on the trail with us. As expected, Kevin and Ivy shot out front and we rarely caught sight of either one the rest of the day. Wolf hangs back for a little but he eventually gets fed up with our pace and takes off. Bunny and I figure “8 miles, what’s the rush?”
Only one Hiker passed us all day, Home Made. She’s from New Zealand and got her name because she made her own pack. Once she passed us, Bunny and I had the trail to ourselves. We crossed a couple of streams early on which made me wonder about the water situation at our camp. I noticed we were heading to a dry camp, so Bunny and I loaded up with about 5 liters of water which, if possible, slowed us down even more. We didn’t make it to our rendezvous until almost 3:30.
The three of them were eating supper when we arrived. Wolf had placed a piece of Tyveck on a flat spot to keep the hordes from taking our spot. Bunny and I started to set up the tent just as a group of 4 hikers came up. They saw the full site and moved on. As I unrolled the tent, I had no choice but downgrade Bunny’s previous “B” for packing effort to a “D-.” She has not folded the tent at all but just stuffed it in the bag. If I had been aware of this earlier, I would have had to stop and fold it properly. The only thing more annoying to me was when Bear kept desecrating maps on the AT last year by folding them against the creases just to keep the elevation profile readily available. And he claimed to be an engineer!
I made our supper while Bunny did the nightly tent decorating. She likes to have a homey touch since this is her primary residence for the foreseeable future. She likes the craftsman motif for our country home. Once she got done, she joined the party for our supper. By then, Kevin decided to have his second supper for the night—he’s only 25. It’s just a matter of time until he gets fed up with the geriatric hiking pace.
As soon as the sun started dipping, not setting, just getting lower in the west, the temperatures started dropping like a rock. Bunny said she was going to get in the tent—it wasn’t even 5! I tried to tough it out, but then Ivy agreed. She had already switched to her ninja sleeping suit but still said it was too cold. Kevin wasn’t ready to turn in and decided to climb the nearest mountain to try to get some photos of the sunset. That sounded too much like work for me so I opted out of that one. Wolf was already turning in circles to instinctually flatten the grass to sleep on, so I said to hell with it and went to bed, too. It was 5:15. The heady 6:30 nights are already a thing of the past.
EFG