Hiking Uphill: 2,924ft
Hiking Downhill: 2,078ft
Distance Hiked: 14miles
Post by Nick:
At 6am I awoke to a whole crew of hikers walking past our tent. I could just see their legs briskly moving past the screened entrance but peeked out to see 5 hikers, 3 guys and 2 girls. The took a break at the water cache nearby, filled up with water, and then to my surprise the guys, who were wearing running shorts and no shirts, dropped to do pushups. I've thought about trying to do pushups and pull-ups along the trail to maintain some level of upper body strength but just haven't had the energy. As quickly as they showed up they took off leaving just a trail of dust as we were still getting ready and packing up. Out of curiosity Mel checked the register/journal at the water cache and it was signed "Team Awesome". Interesting...
We got hiking at 7:30 and just kept climbing into the mountains. At some point I checked my phone's GPS app and it appears we topped out at about 8400ft before leveling off and then slowly descending.
Love them lizards
Giardia? Cryptosporidium? Eek!
We passed an unusual looking pond which I thought might have been used for snow-making which was confirmed when I saw the chair lifts and signs for Mountain High Ski Resort.
We continued descending down through the mountains until we finally reached Inspiration Point right on Hwy 2 at around 2pm. This was the point where we needed to hitch a ride down into Wrightwood to pickup our resupply boxes.
We sat along the Hwy for about 20 minutes with no luck and no shade. There wasn't much traffic and we saw roughly 8 cars pass by in that time. Melissa getting a bit frustrated made a sign saying " 5 miles, $10". The very next pickup truck that passed stopped and offered a ride though he quickly stated he didn't want the money (we tipped him anyway). We had a fun ride in the back of the pickup (w/missing tailgate) down the curvy roads to Wrightwood and were dropped off at the Mtn. Hardware store which also receives hiker packages (and is open longer than the PO).
We bought some cold sodas, picked up our package, and moved to the back porch to sort through the resupply and fill up our backpacks. Melissa received some care packages with some fun and tasty things in them.
Care packages!! 3 of them!
The hardware store had a book with trail angel information in it
This map was on the ceiling and they marked an "X" on the trail to show us how little we've come :-)
Got to have our maps!
The main drag in Wrightwood
After sorting our packs we had a late lunch at the Evergreen Café and I got to enjoy my first cold beer since Cajon....it was so refreshing!
Post lunch, we walked to the store for water and had started walking out of town with our thumbs out when I checked my email on my phone just prior to putting it into airplane mode to conserve power. It was now about 6pm and per my email Royce, Tank, and others (who we later learned we members of Team Awesome) were at the local pub and planned on spending the night at one of the Inns. Melissa and I discussed and agreed that staying the night with some good company sounded better than hiking out of town at 6pm. We booked a cheap room at the Pines Inn and met up with the others at the pub (Yodelers).
Kelsey, Nick, and Mel (Kelsey is from Alaska!)
Tank made his own camp shoes out of ultra light weight foam and tape. Pretty creative!
The gang at the Pines Inn (Royce, Tank, Erica, Kara, Kelsey, etc)
Post from Melissa:
I would like to send a very special thank you to my beautiful friend Debye for making me an Aloha care package filled with goodies from Hawaii. Nick and I ate the Hawaiian cookies on the spot and drank the Kahlua coffees the very next morning. We had a lot of fun w/the leis and loved your cute note inside! <3
I'd also like to thank my Aunt Delma and cousin Ariana for sending me an incredible care package filled with all of my favorite foods along with some crossword puzzles, word searches, and some great smelling lotion and body wash. It was so awesome receiving these. Loved the special note inside too!
And last I'd like to send another huge thank you to my amazing twin Sister for sending us our staple care package with all the necessities like Nick's contact lenses, toilet paper, fuel, dehyrated meals, maps, etc. I can't thank you enough. You are an amazing sister and I love you lots!!
amazing scenery up high!!! could you imagine that area all snow packed? very cool to have others at your pace and with the same priorities (hike & enjoy the stops!).
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