Mile 369.3

+ High: Met a lot of great people, old faces and new.

- Low: Right knee started to hurt

Day 29

Wrightwood is a smaller mountain town, but it has everything we need and it was incredible hiker-friendly.

The first night at Holistic Day Spa center was a full house. There were 9 hikers in the house. Some people slept on the sofa; somepeople had rooms. Tiny had a real bed and a semi private space upstairs. I took a camp bed at a hallway right outside the living room. It was only $10 for me since I helped the host doing dishes. Mama Bear was very nice. They also had a pet pig at home running around but not smelly at all.

I met Backup, Dirty Coconut, and XX (forgot her name...) they were all young and passionate. They stayed two nights already and they were eager to head out the next morning.

“It’s gonna rain, or even snow for the next couple days.” I said to them.

”We know. We are gonna take our chances.” They replied.

I will leave my snow experience to the Sierra Mountains, not here after recovering from a long bad cold.

Tiny is a tiny girl with a great appetite. Earlier in the day when we met at the hardware store, I gave her my chicken nuggets from McDonald’s. She was hungry. After snacks at Village Grind and dinner at Grizzly Cafe, she came to my little hallway at 9 o’clock and said “ Kay, do you wanna check out what’s in the kitchen?” I laughed! I slept pretty well that night with my sleeping bag. I love my cloud! Have I said that before?

Day 30

I still got up around 7 when everyone was up. People were packing their bags and ready to head out. Some of them left already. Backup, Dirty Coconut and XX were still there. Their stuff were all over the floor. They were struggling. It was a tough call to convince yourself walking into the cold and rainy mountain. Tiny came down and told me that I should grab a room upstairs since everyone was leaving. I did. It was a nice room with microwave, coffee machine and mini fridge.

We went out around 10 to do our resupplies and food. We settled at Cinnamon’s Bakery and Sandwich Shoppe first for coffee and brunch. I finally had a decent bagel with scallion cream cheese. I’m holding a New Yorker standard when it comes to bagels. After coffee we did shopping at the hardware store and Jensen's Market. I bought salt and chili powder. The dehydrated food I prepared was somewhat flavorless. I need some spice.

When we walked out of the maket, we saw Backup and the crew were waiting in front of the hardware store for their lift to the trailhead. The host’s sister was coming to get them. We sat and waited with them so we could get a lift back to the Holistic center as well.

Several people stopped by the hardware store and we had random chats with all the town people. One of them offered a ride and we let the crew go first.

While sitting and waiting for our lift, (Dirty cocnut said it would be only a few minutes) a woman came up to us and asked if we were hikers. She offered two organic avocados to each of us out of her kindness and support. We really really appreciated the gesture and we love avocados!!! 10 mins had passed and we didn't see any car coming for us and I was hungry. For the first time on trail, I felt hungry. Tiny was totally up to another meal at Cinnamon’s bakery. I had a tomatoes soup, a fabulous one! Tiny got pastries. She loves pastries, I noticed.

We ended up with hitchhiking back to the center, not sure what happened to the sister...

The afternoon was relaxing. I sorted through my food bag and gave Tiny bounch of KitKat that I though I would eat on trail but I never did. She was happy and also thrilled that one of her friends from day one was coming in town with couple other hikers that night.

I was bored with too much time and nothing to do, so I went out of the house and did a drawing of the trees next to the house. They were beautiful.

In the late evening, I was surprised to see Renaissance and Train Wreck in the house. I’ve crossed ty path with Renaissance and Bandido (they hiked together.) several times along the trail. I only met Train Wreck once at Mary’s picnic table. She was limping back then and still limping at this time, but she managed to walk 218 miles more already. It was really impressive. Renaissance is only 20 years old. He hiked AT last year and the most mile day was 33. I think he could probably run on PCT if he managed to walk 33 miles on AT. Both of them were cool and chill people. After their shower, we were debating if we should head out for dinner. Tiny was snuggling in her bed, warm and cozy.

“Should we go out with them? Do you wanna go?” She asked.

“I don’t mind grabbing a beer.”

“A beer sounds good.”

We all went out to Yodeler for some bar food and drinks. A local bought shots for everyone. It was a fun night. I couldn’t believe that I started to be able to blexnd in with American young crowd. They are all at least 10 years younger than me. I could almost be Renaissance’s mom. To my  surprise, I had a good time.

Day 31

I went in to town in the morning to mail out some stuff to Andy, my cousin. My right knee was not getting better. I tried to cut the loads in my backpack a little bit more. With 6 days of food, I worried about my knee.

I went to Cinnamon’s bakery for the third time. I had another bagel like catching up with an old friend. The staff at the bakery knew me already. When I left, she gave me a donut for free. “You will thank me in the cold weather up in the mountains.” I didn’t want a donut but I took it. I know Tiny is going to be happy.

We headed out to the Inspiration Point, the trailhead around noon and started walking around 1:30. It is always a big hike out of town. The elevation always gains so much. We’ve learned to tough through the first day out of town with fully loaded backpack. It’s always great to be back on the trail.