Day 27

19 miles

Wind was howling all night, but the tent held up great. The slight chance of rain didn’t materialize so we got lucky with the weather: cloudy, windy, and cool. Craving McDonald’s, we moved quickly hitting Mackas around 1. The hiking was fun, starting by climbing up into a misty cloud. Along the way we passed Flying, Snowflake, and Bill Nye The Hiking Guy. Then we came down to the highway over a series of ridgewalks and through a canyon.  It was packed inside and out at McDonald’s, but we got our food fairly quickly. We sat in the shade of some trees at the end of the parking lot. Anywhere we go along trail, I find myself looking for other hikers. If you find one, there’s almost always a nod or waive. More often than not you learn a short story about them, talk about mileage and camp destinations, and exchange names. There’s usually a good chance you’ll see them again further up the trail. After I ate a Big Mac, large fries, large Dr. Pepper, and half of a 10-piece, we casually finished the last 5.5 miles to camp. One of the tips of my trekking poles bent after it got stuck between a couple rocks, and eventually loosened enough to fall out of the socket it was held in. I used a couple rocks to hammer it back in, but it doesn’t seem like it’ll hold forever. Tonight, camp was the Swarthout water cache. The trail angels in Wrightwood are great. They know we have a long water carry tomorrow and they restock it (I’m told) everyday during peak season. A huge help to us. There are three wood chairs next to the water where hikers can sit and eat while *not* sitting on the ground; luxury. Hoops and Forrest were already set up when we pulled in around 4:30, but we eventually were joined by Flying, Snowflake, Bill Nye, Dirty Knuckles, and (briefly) Nivil. Talk is of the fire closures (apparently, there are others now) and how to get around them, and, of course, food. The Acton closure is the main focus because it’s in our next section after Wrightwood, but that’s a problem we can figure out in town. A big climb tomorrow, but last trail day before our nero & zero. Ready for a shower! Oh, and we gave ourselves trail names. Hoops had made a comment that Marie and I know each other the best so we took that advice and Marie came up with Nose Drip for her (since she has a runny nose a lot out here) and Pole Drop for me (because every time we pause and I set my trekking poles against my hip belt, one of them falls). So, for short, we are Drip and Drop.