We woke up early at 430ish in hopes of beating the heat today. We have 22 miles to town (Wrightwood) and at least 15 of them are uphill. As we packed up in the dark we saw the big group of 9 hikers about to set out–we were impressed that such a big group was able to pack up and be ready so early. As we set out a bit after them, we climbed up as the dark predawn turned light. We were in a cloud and it was cool and misty for the first couple hours.
Most of the morning was more of the same–just climbing up and up. It was really beautiful as eventually we climbed above the cloud and it was sunny with a blanket of clouds below us with only the peaks of surrounding mountains emerging above the clouds. It grew pretty exhausting climbing for so long, especially as we started to feel the altitude. We took a lunch break and set off again only to run into the group of 9 breaking as well. Beave informed us we still had a mile of climbing left to which I replied “SHUT UP BEAVE!” Hopefully he knew I was kidding. The last mile of climbing wasn’t bad except for a short 0.1 mile super steep section that we nearly died on.
Luckily we survived and then had a much easier last 6-7 miles til town. It was mostly downhill and we walked through a ski resort which was surreal. It was strange to see ski lifts and lodges in the summer. We were texting our friend Amelia as we walked and found out she was leaving Wrightwood today just as we were heading into town. We hoped we would catch her at the road into town!
The last miles breezed by and we arrived at the trailhead to find not only Amelia but also Yote and Nicole and a few other people we’d hiked with at the very beginning! Finally we were making up for the days we took off to rest! We found out that Yote and Nicole had gotten sick and had to take off some days unfortunately, which is why we caught them. The others were surprised to see us as they thought we were far ahead of them! It’s funny how it all evens out in the end.
After chatting with our friends, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. Wolf Bird and I went to get a hitch into Wrightwood and were excited when the first car that passed stopped for us! It was an older German brother and sister who drove quite quickly down the winding mountain roads. They dropped us off at Mountain Hardware, which serves as sort of a home base for hikers in Wrightwood. Not only do they sell hiking related items, they also accept hiker packages and have a back porch where they let hikers hang out and provide a charging station, have a hiker box, and have a list of trail Angels willing to host hikers. We immediately looked at this list and Wolf Bird selected a couple Ken and Diana from the list because he liked their names. He called and asked if we could stay with them for the night and they said yes!
With that figured out we headed to get food. We ran into a bunch of other hikers we knew in town including Pebbles–she has been hiking with her boyfriend Bam Bam but hitched to Weightwood early because she was suffering some muscle pain. She joined us for food at Evergreen Cafe and we pigged out as is becoming quite typical these days.
We then resupplied for our next leg at the grocery store and chatted with other hikers until deciding to head over to Ken and Diana’s. They live about a mile outside of town so we had to walk there (I hate walking off trail miles) but it wasn’t bad and was so worth it.
A sidenote on this town: we heard before getting here that all the motels were full because the entire town has a big garage sale over Memorial Day weekend every year. We didn’t realize the extent of this until we arrived! There were garage sale signs everywhere even though it was only Thursday and Diana even told us when we called that she needed to do some garage sale prep. Very interesting…
We arrived at Ken and Diana’s and immediately felt at home. Diana was super friendly and welcomed us and immediately offered us water and beer and grapes. Ken was still at work and Diana worked on garage sale prep while Wolf Bird and I showered and got our laundry ready. Ken and Diana had a beautiful home that they completely fixed up over the years and they were one of the few year round residents of Wrightwood. Many of their neighbors live elsewhere and use their homes on the weekends especially in the winter with the ski resort so nearby.
We showered and started laundry and Wolf Bird changed into a pair of Diana’s pants so he could wash his shorts. He looked hilarious as her pants looked like capris on him and he was shirtless because he had to wash his shirts. We helped Diana put together a clothes rack for the garage sale and hung out talking to her and Ken once he got home as they cooked dinner. We had an amazing meal of grilled chicken breast and corn on the cob and salad. It was sooo tasty and we even had freshly baked cookies and Klondike bars after! It was nice talking to Diana and Ken and learning about them and their lives. We had a great time chatting about our elementary school teachers growing up and laughing about different rumors and quirks. We went to bed later than usual but were very happy with full tummies and a comfy mattress and clean clothes and bodies. We are in awe of the generosity of this town and of the trail Angels we meet!
Such great people!!!
Love you! ?