I woke up at the rv park on day 6 not knowing what my plan was going to be. My feet were a little sore, and I was a little low on food. I was going to wait for the little store to open, but a lady drove up before a finished breakfast offering hikers rides to the trail. Hitchhiking isn't always a guarantee so I quickly shoved everything in my pack and hopped in the car with 5 other hikers. I told I was a little low on food so she offered my some fresh oranges. She said she shuttles hikers back and forth all the time during hiker season. We all thanked her and started on the trail. This section of trail was through one of the most diverse cacti groves in the country. I came across a massive bee hive 2 miles in. Luckily someone had left a note on the trail warning me about it because my pack probably would have brushed up and agitated them as I went by. It was a really hot day and difficult day, but as I saw the Laguna mountains, from which i had just been 2 days ago, disappear behind me it gave me a huge sense of acomplishment. Water was scarce on this section of trail, and the only source was a cache maintained by trail angels about 14 miles in. They had trucked in a couple pallets of gallon jugs where the trail came close to a road. You try not to depend on water caches because they can run out quickly with so many hikers on the trail. I had enough for the night but I checked it out anyways to make it a little more comfortable the next day. I soon as I got to the cache, a little thunder shower started to dump on me out of nowhere. I looked around and it blues skies all around except for about a two mile radius above me. I was in the desert so all my rain gear was at the bottom of my pack. I decided to just embrace it and just kept hiking through the rain. I was soaking wet and a little cold but my spirits could not have been higher. I found an awesome campsite up on a ridge with amazing views and camped by myself for the first time. The rain stopped just long enough for me to dry everything out. Since I was alone I decided to practice the harmonica my neighbor Russ back in Denver gave me. Luckily I have a long ways until Canada because I goingto need some more practice hahaha! Day 6 - 15 miles
The next morning I took it slow getting out of the tent. I was surprised when Candyman and Pacer walked by me because I was sure that they were ahead of me. The trail was mostly downhill today following the top lines in and iut of all the ridges. I passed by several new hikers that I hadn't seen before and had some nice conversations the miles always seem to go faster when you are deep in conversation with someone. Before I knew it I was at mile 100. It had been marked by a hiker with some rocks. We all took our pictures by it and continued on. Everyone kinda bottle necks at the water sources and it was no different today because they were about 8 hikers at the barrel spring trough when I got there. After the spring the trail led through some beautiful meadows. The seemingly endless waves of golden grass back dropped by mountains all around was beautiful. We came across the famous pct landmark eagle rock today. It a granite boulder formation that looks just like a bald eagle with its wings spread. It had some great shade so we took our pictures an hung out there for a bit. The town of Warner springs was just 3 miles aways so we were ready to get there for a much needed Nero day (a day with only a few miles hiked). We arrived at the community center and we're greeted by about 25 other hikers. It was tent city at the hiker friendly community center. Volunteers cooked hot dogs for us as we scavenged through the hiker boxes looking for rejected treasures. Our friend Pacer found a guitar and had a little jam session. It was great meeting new people and catching up with hikers we hadn't seen in a while. Whenever everyone went to bed it was so neat seeing 25 tents all glowing with lights inside that night. I went to sleep looking forward to nero day the next day. Day 7 - 17 miles