Julian to Mike's Place

leaving julian I felt rested and ready for the day ahead. The town of julian was in a cloud and it was in the low fifty's so I figure the hiking weather couldn't be more perfect given the last 30 miles of hot desert I had been hiking in before. It took about 30 minutes to hitchhike right back down to scissors crossing where I had left the trail a couple days earlier. As we drove away from julian the weather began to clear and sure enough by the time we got to scissors crossing it was in the eighty's and bright and sunny without a cloud in the sky. I took off climbing at about noon and quickly gained 500 feet of elevation. I guess everyone else had the good sense not start at noon on such a hot day because I didn't see anyone for 7 hours until I came up to the water cash at mile 91. It was incredible day and I was happy to be back on the trail.

the following day I passed the 100 mile mark and felt an enormous sense of pride. 100 miles seemed like such an accomplishment!

it gave me a new motivation and I hurried onward. I passed Eagle Rock and there was no one in sight. Even with foot pain nagging me I managed to climb around happily on the rocks for a few minutes before carrying on.

my plan had been to make it to warner springs that day but my feet hurt so bad I had to stop about a half mile from town and couldn't walk a step further. I set up camp by a river and agreed with a fellow hiker that it would be an early morning hike into warner springs for breakfast.

Warner Springs has a Resource Center that they have set up to help hikers. pretty much every grassy area there is covered with tents and the hikers all look rested and well fed.

 the Resource Center is a shining example of incredible people helping hikers on a mostly donation-based honor system. The volunteers were helpful and kind and the sheriff even came by to give hikers rides to the post office and to wash dishes after breakfast. Everything about the center was comforting.

 

That night all the hikers were standing around when a pickup truck pulled through the parking lot and sold us all beers from the back of his truck for $1 each. nothing brings hikers together like cheap beer! this was the night I met several of the hikers I would come to know well over the next couple hundred miles.

The weather was rough so I stayed an extra day. after breakfast the following day I headed off into the light rain with a big climb ahead of me. over the course of the next 18 miles it was all uphill and the higher that I climbed the colder and windier the weather became. around 430 I decided that it was time to set up camp considering the weather was not going to get any better and the rain felt like it was starting to freeze. as I stood on the trail looking around me to take in and available campsites I heard an odd noise and was quickly approached by two hikers on a mission. "Hey, are you going to Mike's place?" One of the hikers asked. "Umm who is Mike?" apparently I hadn't done my homework and I didn't realize I was only about a half mile from a trail angels home! so I fell into line behind the others and crested a hill where I was introduced to Mike's place. Less of a place and more of a compound in the middle of nowhere, Mike's place consisted of a main house surrounded by buildings and RVs that were full of hikers. there must have been 25 people there! The girl who had saved me from camping on my own and I quickly decided to camp on the screened in porch, then quickly became buddies and laughed away the bad weather together. The night evolved into a little party with beer, whiskey, home-cooked meal of chicken and rice and me taking blinding photos.

 KC, Raingear, Aquanot, Little Bear, Scotland, Kravitz, Johnny Walker and a few others were all there. It was the complete opposite of the night I imagined myself having a few hours earlier, alone in the rain. Another example of the trail providing in extremely unexpected ways :)