The next day i hit mile 400. Everyone got super jazzed about it i guess since there were 5 signs of rocks and pinecones commemorating the occasion.
Just after that i wound up at Camp Glenwood, this cute little cabin that some cool dads were building for various scout adventures. They gave me a postcard and a beer and some chips and some strawberries. One of the dads talked to me quite a bit about the remote control helicopter scene, the various sizes and danger levels.
Trail magic wasn’t done there, i ran into a former pct thru hiker named Fancy Pants (he was hiking with pants that had multiple vent zippers that were very impressive) who was cooking up some breakfast another couple miles down. We pigged out on undercooked bacon, eggs coated in bacon grease, and a bunch of pop. I hiked out with a can of coke for the next morning.
I did some work that day, knocking out a good 24. There was cell service for a very long descent in the afternoon so i spent an hour listening to a compilation of Paul Stanley doing crowd banter. The sunset was bomb, but i powered through it to the promised land: there were 3 altars built to honor mile 420.
The most exciting thing about the following day was the pop for sale at a ranger station we passed by. Also the bomb sunset that i didn’t take any pictures of.
Yesterday was fantastic. The first stop was the KoA. We had to stop in to refill water, but they had a little store on location with all kinds of treats. I had a pint of ice cream for breakfast like many other people, and a bunch of hikers piled in and watched Friends in a common area as we ate up. A lot of people chose to stay there for the pool, i foolishly chose to brave the desert heat and move on to a place called Hiker Heaven.
The heat was brutal. My shirt was fully saturated by the time i found an oasis; a tunnel that ran underneath a highway. Graffiti preferred to live on the ends of this passage, but i popped my headlamp and enjoyed some of the lonely drawings who lived in the dark. Also i hung out and played some guitar in the shade and a recording exists of that on instagram.
The trail hopped into Vasquez Rocks for a beautiful mile up to some more trail magic. Pop and beer and chips and dogs. They also gave us a ride to the visitor center and i got to learn all about the weird rocks.
Leads me here, Hiker Heaven. This place is super surreal. All the hikers milling about mixed in with dogs and chickens with some horses and donkeys as our neighbors. Laundry and showers and haircuts, everyone looks brand new and that’s not counting the loaner cotton clothes we’re all wearing. There are truck bed rides to the town for food and booze. I’m rocking a zero here, it’s a very hot day and i ain’t ready to brave some more desert just yet.
this place is super surreal
i ate the glenwood gift strawberries whole, i appreciated the tart fruit as well as the snap of their leafy crowns
shortly afterwards i was passed by a hiker who surely heard me laughing at my podcast doing bits about santa claus vaping
boyo that KoA day was hot like whoah. that morning walking into a KoA in the early morning when the air still had the nighttime bite. the common area next to the shop full of hiker and microwave food smell. the one with all the hikers joking and laughing about gluttony and stench, and ross and rachel.
vasquez rocks was so rad and i should’ve spent more time there. i’m glad i didn’t because it set me up to get to the powerful trio of vortex energy in socal: hiker heaven, casa de luna, and hiker town
magic was only growing stronger through this section it’s true it’s true
man i dunno 