Memorial Day, and then some . . .

Day 20:

*Memorial Day! We decided to treat ourselves to a town stay in Big Bear City. We hitched into town in a pick-up truck, rented a luxury suite at the Nature's Inn motel with two hiker buddies, Gantz and TCB (takin' care of business (Elvis inspired)), ate mexican food, drank a beer, and finished the night off with some good ol' fashioned prime time television.

Day 21:
*The Almighty Trail Angel Christopher Sauchak visited us from LA! He imparted wisdom of the Sauce and offered some excellent trail magic (food, ride to trailhead along rugged dirt road, good company, etc.) What trail magic Sauchak did not provide, was a magic cure for Paul's "irritable bowel syndrome," which lasted from Memorial Day evening, all day Tuesday, and Wednesday morning.

**Paul's new unoffficial trail names:
- Cropduster: due to trail flatulence when passing other hikers, or usually, just Ben.
- Dumps Too Close: no proper gauge as to what an appropriate distance should be when dumping (i.e. to water sources (bit of an exaggeration), to the trail, to camp, to Ben, etc. . .)
- Hamburguesa: doesn't this just sound like a name for someone who eats mexican and shits his pants?
- Bionic Woman: he now wears two knees braces, and believe it our not, two ace bandages on his shins.

Day 22:

*We awake to uncertainty . . . before we know it, Paul eats a bowl of granola and proceeds to puke all over the campsite. Yep, things had gotten worse. We decide to hike the 10.7 miles (plus 3 along rugged dirt road plus 1 to the motel) back to Big Bear City. Fortunately, the Champions League final for soccer was on, and game five of the Red Wings/Blackhawks conference finals. "Hmmm . . . " thinks Ben, "coincidence?"

**Steps to catch Red Wings playoff games while hiking the PCT:
1. Eat the biggest, wettest burrito you've ever seen in your life from a mexican restaurant that has UFC fights on the entire day.
2. Chug a soda, a beer, and then buy a full pack of Oreos and milk for a late night snack.
3. Enter and exit the bathroom three times in twenty minutes.
4. Pretend you have a fever, but play it off casually to your hiking partner, but then moan and groan quietly within earshot of your hiking partner.
5. Use an entire role of TP the following day of hiking and take so long that other hikers remarked, "We saw his pack, but there was no sign of him. He's at least 20 minutes back." Several hikers remarked this.
6. Wake up the following morning saying you don't feel good and then purge in front of Ben.
7. Decide to return to town on the night Red Wings play Blackhawks after two nights off from playing.
8. Feel better the following morning.

Day 23-24:

**Ben and Paul split!!

From Ben's point of view:
--While Paul decides to yogi (connivingly get something from someone without asking) a ride 70 miles north on the trail, Ben sets out to hike the distance in 2 days via an old army surplus offroad vehicle driven by a man named Lee.
First day was rather uneventful. Lots of miles and some interesting canyon crest walking which led to a hot spring (along the San Andreas fault) with a bunch of skinny dippers.
Day 2 went much differently:
While Paul decided to have a nice relaxing day reading in a sandy riverbed, relaxing at McDonalds, and chatting up other hikers, Ben did this:
-got lost for 1 hour after hiking only 4 miles and walking through a river he didn't have to.
-had to hike 29 miles, in wet feet, after 10am to meet Paul before dusk.
-in order to meet Paul he had to speed hike, which was hindered by an unexpected bathroom break and a water refill because the next 15 miles were dry.
-had a thunderstorm roll up as he's filtering water and had to out run the storm for 16 miles.
-as soon as the thunder started, he encountered a 4-5 foot rattlesnake just laying out along the trail (time to slow down).
-had to take refuge during lunch inside a porta-potty (quite a good shelter actually).
-arrive at rendevous point with 4 new blisters and a smile, why? well, yes to see Paul, but more importantly to indulge in a McUltimate sandwich (created by Scott Niemi and Ross Daniels).

From Paul's Point of View:
While Ben is busy hiking all day long, I got a ride from a wonderful couple that I had met the day before at our hotel. They knew the area well and drove me 70 miles, right to the exact spot where I would meet Ben the next night. Again, I'm amazed by the kindness of all the people we're meeting along the trail. I gave them this blog address so hopefully they'll check in. Thank you very much again.

I set up my own camp a mile or so back up the trail, reading and relaxing. The next day I hung out with more hiker friends that had come by me during the late morning. I spent the rest of the afternoon in a river bed at the spot where the stream wound down to a trickle and soaked into the ground. It was the end of a river. After a few hours of digging various trenches and rerouting the river, Ben strolls up looking and smelling like he had just hiked 65 miles in two days. We proceeded up the hill and went to McDonalds for our McUltimate challenge.

The McUltimate. One of my younger brother's creations. We approached the situation with confidence after our hiker appetites have been allowing us to put down 5000-6000 calories a day without any adverse affects. It is a do-it-yourself meal at McDonalds that is a double cheeseburger, McChicken sandwich, Fillet-of-Fish, and a small french fry all between two buns. It was disgusting and amazing all at the same time. But guess what, we washed it all down with a large chocolate milk shake. Your move Scott and Ross. Let's see if you can up that.


Day 25:

What not to do the day after embarking on a McUltimate voyage: hike up a mountain for 10 miles and gain 5,000 feet. Well, we did anyway, but had some nice rattlesnake sightings to spice up the afternoon. We finished the night off with rain, in fact, enough rain for us to both put on our pack covers. We ended at a campsite with the most stunning, picturesque view of a ridgeline as the clouds dissapated from the sky and the amber glow of the sun shimmered in the west alighting the water drops clinging to fallen pine needles on the forest floor.

Rattlesnake update. We are now in Timber Rattler territory. Guess what moms, they're even bigger and meaner than the Western Diamondback.


Day 26:

WE awake to coyotes. They actually look quite gentle and friendly up close, tip-toeing around the campsite looking for scraps. After our brief encounter with the magnificent wild, we needed a dose of civilization and so hitched into the town of Wrightwood. We've discovered hitching out West is most interesting and peculiar. We haven't even had to throw our thumbs out yet. We simply engage in a conversation and suddenly the other party asks us if we need a ride. Magnificent trail magic. But even more impressive was who these particular trail angels were. Thru-hikers around the world, prepare to be humbled: the couple who picked us up were professional ultramarathon runners. They were out training for the Badwater Ultramarathon (www.badwater.com), a race across Death Valley in the middle of summer. 140 miles across the desert in one shot! No sleep! No stopping! Just running! Sure, we PCT hikers hike 20 miles a day in the desert. Big whoop. These two were crazy. And to our surprise, not just two crazy anybodies. We hitched with Jorge Pacheco, the best runner in the world, 2008, and Marie, his partner. Very humble individuals, for being such athletic superheroes.

Day 27:

We found some hiking buddies and now we travel 4 strong: Ben and Paul, Mike (TCB b/c of his huge Elvis fascination), and Kelly, a free Methodist Pastor. We rallied to make Agua Dulce in 4 days--70 miles, 4 days = 23 miles a day. According to Kelly, we were "motorin' ". Leaving Little Jimmy Spring Campground, a popular bear hang-out, (which we found none), we headed north. Ben and Paul, both feeling strong this particular morning, kept their noses to the trail and began the first climb of the day. Somehow, their noses were rather buried and they managed to miss the trail junction and summit a 8,200 ft. peak unintentionally. Although technically they had gotten lost, they were nonetheless proud of their feat (however, it did affect their feet). They rolled into camp last, to cheers from Kelly and TCB who were wagering whether we'd make it or not. The night ended with an algae-saturated water refill, a rattlesnake by the spring, and stories of TCB's escapades in Amsterdam, attending a rave in the basement of some parking structure.

Day 28:

48 miles left until Agua Dulce. Few water resupplies along the way. So what do we do? Split a 24 mile day into two 12 mile halves. At 12 miles we replenished our water at a ranger station, ate lunch, and moved on. 12 miles later we entered camp; however, no one was quite ready to be done--perhaps because of some severe wind whipping through camp, or perhaps because of the two gentleman shooting a bow and arrow across the campsite at a target of a baby picture. Both drinking Tecate (an excellent beverage), half-crazy, half-drunk, these two entertained us with excellent marksmanship, rhymes, and stories of Vietnam. At one point, one of the guys who looked identical to "The Dude" in The Big Lebowski walked up with his hands in the pockets of his hooded sweatshirt and said, "4 divided by 2 is a half," while pulling out two beers for the four of us. He lay them on the table, tipped his sunglasses, nodded his head, and walked away.

Day 29:
Into Agua Dulce! Although the rain rolled in around 11am, we discovered a secret lunchtime cave, entered Vasquez Rocks county park (Danny, do you know anything about this?) which is a crazy spectacular array of immense rock formations, as well as a sanctuary for mountain lions, and finally strolled into town. We ate pizza, drank beer, ate ice cream and caught up with some long-lost hiker chums: Todd, Monologue, Bluebird and Buster, Heaps, Shadow, Lindsay, and Magellan. The evening was filled with stories and laughter, however, our friends Bluebird and Buster left us after a freak accident with Bluebird falling off her bike and having to go to the hospital. Everything is fine save for a broken wrist.