April 30/ May 1: after our arduous hike into Barrel Springs there was a general consensus that we needed to take the cooler airbhikingnone step further- get up even earlier and get more miles on before the sun came up, hunker down later, and hike into the night after the sun went down. We had one big thing in our favor- Theron was getting full. While the lack of trees was bad when looking for shade, it was great for letting the bright moonlight shine down. Kind of like driving with a full moon when it's snowy.
I was hiking before 5. I went through meadows
And up into grassy hills
And just after sunrise reached this bad boy:
Eagle Rock. How cool is that? It even had some lovely flowers in back.
I had covered the 10 miles to Warner Springs Community Center by 8:30 am. The community center allowed hikers to hang out for the day, had pay showers and laundry, sodas and snacks, and a place to come on out of the sun.
Unfortunately their kitchen had been shut down the day before our arrival so we did not get to try their famous cheeseburgers. They had a news crew talking to hikers about the impact of shutting down the kitchen. Somehow, they strolled right past me- maybe because I was cleaning my toenails with my Swiss Army knife or maybe because I had that "I spent all day yesterday looking for bushes to crawl under" look about me. Go figure.
Anyway- we hung out there until 5- resting, napping, eating, cleaning up. And then a big pack of us hit the trail.
It wa a beautiful sunset.
And we cowboy camped ( no tent) 11 miles up.
The next day, the plan was similar- hike to Trail Angel Mike's place, hang out, and night hike out. Trail Angel Like owned shone near the trail and allowed hikers to get water and hang out under awnings at his place.
Mike was home this day and haslore in store- he cooked breakfast for us all, had a smoker going with chicken, and had all the needed materials for an "Uno de Myo" party.
We hung around for a while, but when it started to look like hanging out any longer would involve having to stay the night to stave off a hang over, we skedaddled.
Sometimes you need a clean night hike, other times a hybrid approach works best.
Peace love and trail magic
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