Day 19

Today was pretty quintessential type II fun. I woke up to a drizzle on my face at 1 am, which I dismissed as my imagination. After being convinced by several more I hastily put up my tarp and fell back asleep. When I awoke at 5:30, the drizzle was still present. Since my pack liner completely ripped yesterday (it’s this gossamer-thin nylofume bullshit: never again), I improvised my tarp as a pack cover and began hiking in the cool drizzle. With few exceptional periods, this was the nicest weather I experienced all day.

As the day progressed, the air got colder, the rain fell harder, and the wind picked up to gale force proportions. Cold and fantasizing about the light at the end of the tunnel (McDonald’s), I decided around 10 to make a reservation at the hotel at Cajon Pass. This forced me to have a big day (30ish miles) and turned out to be an excellent carrot. The scenery was quite beautiful but unfortunately I have very few photos because of the circumstances. I walked through rain, snow, sleet, hail, and graupel on my first day walking in the Mojave desert! Weird stuff.

After enduring the worst of the storm while rounding Silverwood Lake/ the West Fork of the Mojave River, I encountered bear poop! An exciting sight, as bears are pretty rare in the San Bernardino area. Soon after, the rain abruptly let up and the sun peeked its head out. I felt like singing and dancing. I call my mom and shortly after hangin up I was hit with big pieces of hail and huge wind absolutely out of nowhere. These conditions didn’t let up until I was within sight of the San Gabriel mountains and thus honing in on my target—Macca’s.

I was quite patient, trying not to get too excited before the McDonald’s was in site. When i saw the official PCT sign marking the McDonald’s to the right, all hell broke loose in my mind.

I think I jogged there. After waiting 30 minutes for my order, I devoured 20 nuggets, 2 quarter pounders, a large fry, and an Oreo McFlurry. I wanted to order more but the friends I made there were gearing up to go and, so, not wanting to walk on the highway overpass to the hotel alone, I postponed more fast food to tomorrow. At the hotel, I was the twelfth hiker to squeeze into the maximum occupancy: 4 hot tub. Fun stuff. Ended the day off trail at Mile 341.9.