Saturday, May 22, 2010

500 miles

Thursday night Zac and company hiked the 0.6 miles off the trail to the Uppershake Campground hoping for a nice place to pitch a tent and relax a bit. When they arrived, they found the camp grounds in bad shape. The brush was overgrown, every site was on a hill, the water was undrinkable and the bathrooms were so bad Zac said he would have rather found a bush or tree. For Zac to say a bathroom was that nasty, there must have been a family of raccoons or skunks living in there or something. The campground was closed. The trio, Golden Child, Mango, and Zac decided to stay anyway. There were no good places to set up a tent so they all cowboy camped.
There was a group of PCT volunteer trail workers camped on the other side of the campgrounds. They went over to enquire about trial conditions and were invited to dinner and all the water they could carry. They had fajitas and re fried beans. They "Yogied" their dinner. This a term used when they are invited eat with someone. Sort of like when Yogi Bear would eat out of someone's picnic basket but without the part of being chased by the local ranger. (I hope)
He had crossed the 500 mile marker.
On Friday they hiked from a 6000 ft. to a 3000 ft. elevation. They reached the town of Lancater. Their goal was to camp at a place called Hikertown. A place built for through hikers with small plywood cabins, showers, Internet,and a hot meal. According to Zac, it was set up like an old western town. Almost like some kind of movie set.
When I spoke with him this morning he said he had not slept well. It was cold and they had to keep the window open so the cat could get in. He said he received some good trail information from Tarzan and Zelda this morning. He was going to have a pancake breakfast and get back on the trail. The weather there this morning was cold and looked like it might rain.
Today they will follow the Los Angeles Aqueduct, jeep trails and dirt roads. They are planning to hike the 16 miles to the Cottonwood Creek bridge and fill up on water then hike the additional 6 miles to Tylerhorse Canyon where they plan to camp.

UPDATE: The toe nail fell off two days ago. Not sure but I think he will make some kind of necklace out of it to ward off evil spirits. He has a new hair style or "lack of" hair style. He has cut his hair a short as he could. It was getting too long and the desert gets hot. He was very happy to get an email from Charles Wood, the world famous Banjo picker and turkey hunter. Thanks again for everyone's support and prayers, both near and far.

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