Day 22

May 24,2013
24 miles today
444 miles total

The tooth as a good luck charm was a bust. After all, it did get yanked out by a Mike and Ike, which in anybody’s book is a bad luck event. No idea why I thought its future luck would be better. Rubbed it last night for no dew. Cowboy camped when everyone else put up their tent. Woke up this morning cold. The cracking sound was alarming as I broke the sheet of ice that covered me. I think the tooth needs to go home.

Gladly climbed away from the saddle through burnt acreage. Orbit, who had suffered from the bite of the poodle in 2011, described its horrors in such a way that we ended up detouring around multiple sections of the PCT. A road, with very limited access, paralleled the trail so I stayed on that. While walking along that a security truck pulled up. The driver asked where I was coming from. I answered, “Mexico.” His partner in the passenger seat screamed, “Jesus!” The driver then asked where I was going. I answered, “Canada.” The partner screamed, “Oh, Jesus!” Maybe I made their day. They certainly made mine.

As I walked, I got to thinking about Red Beard and Orbit. Both had taken a shot at the PCT in 2001, a particularly bad snow year. Red Beard made it 1900 miles before shin splints took him out. Orbit made it 1000 miles before her money ran out. It’s a testament to their character that instead of entering this year at the point they left off at in 2011, they started once again from the beginning.

The detour continued through the Station Fire of 2009 that destroyed 160,000 acres of forest and took the lives of two firefighters. I paid my respect at their memorial and then came upon the ruins of the LA Country Firefighting Training Center. The compound was extensive and its destruction complete. I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the story.

More destruction

Same camp

Camp cafeteria

Melted Gatorade bottles

Melted Quonset hut

Firefighting camp destruction

Irony – the only thing that didn’t burn

Finally rejoined the flow of the PCT, after too many miles of road walking, for a long descent into the Acton Valley. My knee was still bothering me, so I decided to loosen it up by running to the KOA Campground some six miles away. I was low on supplies so my pack was light and not much of a hindrance. Off I went. The exhilaration of bombing downhill for miles on a mountain path can’t be matched. Music thumping, twisting and turning down switchbacks, allows one to grab freedom that is mostly elusive.

Slack had the same idea. We raced to the end, where we skidded to a stop at the camper of a natural hiker. A famous 2006 PCT thru hiker who prefers to hike without clothes. Just returned from six year of missionary work in Peru, he celebrated his 65th birthday by serving us root beer floats in a transparent mini skirt.

Can this trail get any better?

Steve Halteman
On the Pacific Crest Trail
Hiking the PCT for the Kids of Escuela Verde

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