May 13: with our short day previously, we had a 12 mile hike into Wrightwood, a small off trail mountain town with grocery, hardware, and post office accommodations. It was a strange morning: very cold and windy on the northwest side of the ridge, sunny and calm on the southeast side. So I spent the morning putting on gloves and hat, taking off gloves and hat repeatedly as the trail meandered back and forth along the ridge.
We hiked through some ski slopes ( that had seen no action for the past two winters) which wa sound of cool. And through some piney forests before dropping down to be road into Wrightwood.
Since I had eaten at McDonalds twice, packed out a cheeseburger, and eaten breakfast in the Best Western, I did not have a lot of resupplying to do. I did grab a big burrito at the grocery/deli and found Wallaby again. The big talk was of the impending snow storm. It was supposed to blow I the next day after noon. Since we had a big, 9000 foot peak to climb, we decided that we should probably head out soon, get the climb out of the way, and we could hike out to the lower elevations before noon tomorrow, thus beating the snow. Great! In theory.
Wallaby again opted to stay put in town, and Lauren wa waiting for a UPS delivery. But since I tend to slow down in the afternoon (even in the wilderness, I get that mid afternoon slump from whence my diet coke addiction has sprung) I opted to head out with Diogenes and see if we could make it to Little Jimmy campground.
We caught a ride quickly-the guy pointed out the newly on the market house of Keanu Reeves- and headed back on the trail.
Baden Powell Peak was probably the most challenging climb so far, but still fairly graded. Made it up and over the peak as was the plan.
Sometimes, you don't see things the way they ARE but the way you want them to be. Which explains how I took a wrong turn and went down a trail on the southeast side of the mountain for a mile instead of heading along then PCT onto the wind. I finally figured out I was on the wrong trail and corrected myself, but ate up precious daylight on the process. I rolled into Little Jimmy Campground at 10 to eight, with just enough time to quickly set up my tent before it wa dark. Successful execution of the day's plans, and spins sleep for a cold night.
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