Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Mile 478-488 The Anderson's to Sawmill Mountain

Last night we had great beef tacos supplied by the Anderson's, and hung out with Billionaire, Boyscout, Jorge, Hitch and Alif.

The Anderson's place is 2 miles from the PCT trail which means an hour of walking that doesn't count toward PCTmiles, so we decided to stay this morning for pancakes and then get a ride to the trailhead rather than get up early and walk. We don't like walking ;)

This meant waiting around until 2pm for there to be enough people going out to warrant a ride to the trail. The upside was we could enjoy Mrs Anderson's hotdogs, and a couple of beers while we waited.

On the way back to the trail we met Sadie in the van, a young girl from Nevada City, Ca. She said she was a little scared to hike the next section on her own. This ex-army guy told her that a lot of no-good happens in these here hills. The guy even went so far as to give her a giant 'don't F with me' knife to protect herself. This thing looked like something Rambo dropped. It had a bit that breaks glass and another bit that rips through seat belts. Unsure as to which was scarier, sweet and seemingly innocent blade weilding Sadie, or the baddies in the hills, I said she was welcome to hike and/or camp with us. 

We hiked ten miles in fairly hot weather. It's always hard starting to walk after a break. Sand and bushes. Lots of uphill. Foot pain for all. Decided to camp before it got dark at the top of a hill. Everything looked perfect (see panorama below). Such a lovely evening we decided to cowboy camp as it seemed like the perfect night for it. 

What started out as tranquil and delightful turned hideously windy. We had perhaps the most sleep-deprived night yet. This never ending, loud and aggressive wind came from nowhere. We managed to secure our belongings and stuff them into our bags. Sadie was not so lucky, she lost a shirt that she had hanging over a branch.

Earlier in the evening I noticed that the wind was coming from my side, making me a human wind barrier, shielding Tracy from the brunt of the battering.. I mentioned this and expected the following exchange:

Tracy: Oh, you poor lamb! I had no idea. Let me know if you get too cold and we can change places. 

Me: Oh, I wouldn't dream of it. No, I'll take it for the team. Stay cozy, my love.

Instead, the actual response I got was:

Tracy: Bummer





2 comments:

Spillerjzy said...

Laffing and laffing, girls, just spent a fabulous evening reading your WHOLE blog start to finish. Full of admiration for you both, fran and I would have killed each other by day 10, keep on rockin' team TINGO!!

Spillerjzy said...
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