Day 29: Fri May 25

(Stud) Here we go again--Dumb and Dumber. After packing up, we left the oasis of the Saufley's home around 9:30, then had a late and long breakfast with Stamp Lady and Medicine Man. We started heading out of town around noon--approaching the hottest part of the day. We found out later that someone is serving free Suchi at the Saufley's tonight--yet another reason we should have hung around in addition to my umbrella still being nearly broken beyond use. (My GoLite umbrella is one of my primary sun protectors, but the strong winds have turned it inside out so often, one spoke(?) is broken and the fabric is largely torn away from all the spokes. But I am determined to fix it!).

So, we start heading out of town around noon. I'll note that we have no maps for the next 50 miles of trail. We bought the guide books second hand--and a few sections are missing. So after going a few 10ths of a mile I ask Dwight: "Are you sure we're headed the right direction"? "I think so", he said--"think" being the operative word here. So, back to town we went. I asked the guy behind the counter of the hardware store if he knew which direction the PCT headed out of town--and Dwight had been right--so off we headed for the seond time.

After a mile or so of hot road walk, the trail headed up a 5 mile section of hot, shadeless hill with our packs heavy with resupplies. Emphasis added on "hot", "uphill" and "heavy". In the distance--at the very top of the hill--there appeared to be a single tree (just like a kid's drawing). I said to myself: Lord, please make that tree be on the trail.

When the trail peaked out, there was indeed a small stand of oaks. Two dirt bike riders were hanging out in the shade there--a couple of guys our age. We shared shade and chatted with them for over an hr. One was a "Mr Mom" and handy man from Malibu. "You know, Malibu", he said, "where rich people live and you can charge them whatever you want". The other guy was a movie camera lens technician. He's repaired cameras for the TV shows House and Monk. It was fun talking to them and slightly allieviated the pissy mood I was in for starting our hike in the heat of the day.

It got cooler and shadier as the day went on. We stopped and made dinner just before dusk, then resumed hiking. In less the a half a mile, we reached the Anderson's crazy "Oasis Water Cashe". This couple has carved out an area underneath several manzanita (?) trees. In addition to leaving several gallon jugs of water (in an otherwise waterless area) they have left some plastic lawn chairs, skeletons hanging in the trees, a cooler of cokes and a pink plastic flamingo. Just a few feet down the trail we found another open area under some manzanita trees--so we grabbed a coke and set up camp under a growing moon. Nothing like trail angels to brighten a day.