May 14th, 2016
Miles Hiked: 8
Total Miles: 297
Starting Location: Highway 2, Mile 369
End Location: Campsite Mile 377
End Location GPS: 34.36462, -117.76124
We spent the morning shopping and having a late breakfast at the Evergreen Cafe. Carolyn went to a Yoga class in town and I stayed in the hotel room and ate Doritos.
After breakfast we went to the grocery store for one more item and then hitch hiked back up to inspiration point to get back on the trail. We got a hitch in a literal 15 seconds after we stuck out out thumbs. A nice local lady ferried us up to the trail in the back of her pickup truck. This reminded me of a hitch Qball and I got on the CDT in a similar fashion, in the back of a pickup, but instead of being on a nice mountain road we were going 80 on the freeway while huge semis passed us overhead making me fear for my life and almost shit my pants.
We arrived at the point and continued hiking onward in the afternoon breeze and sunshine. There are large pine trees all around us because we are pretty high up, near 8000 feet. After a few miles we crossed Highway 2 a second time and came to a large trailhead parking area. It was a Saturday and it was filled with cars and hikers ascending up to Mount Baden Powell, a peak near 9300 feet which we also had to climb.
The switchbacks weren’t bad and we meandered our way slowly up the mountain. We are camped just a mile before the summit. We are going to try and hike the last mile early tommorrow morning to catch the sunrise from the summit.
Passed a lot of new hikers today we have not seen. Thru hiking is kind of like a moving gypsy caravan.
From Carolyn’s Journal:
