Mile 193 to 210
“Years ago the Bear assisted a hiker who was waiting on a check to come through, and he’s been hooked ever since.” -Ziggy
After a long day of chasing an overly enthusiastic Christmas elf through the forest (see below), we woke up yet again in a winter wonderland. Snow blanketed around our tent, and we started hiking in all the clothes we own after packing up an icy tent and frozen water bottles. Within ten minutes, we were stripping away layers and swapping ski hats for sun hats.
We spent the rest of the day weaving our way down the mountain, dropping thousands of feet from snowy forest to arid desert. By afternoon we had passed the 200 mile mark, crossed under a highway, and were headed for Ziggy and the Bear’s.
Ziggy and the Bear are two senior trail angels, who have opened their backyard to the thousands of hikers who otherwise would continue hiking nine more days to the next stop. We let ourselves in through the back gate to find dozens of hikers heaped about on rugs and lawn chairs. Ziggy had us sign in; we are numbers 431 & 432 this year. The Bear was very serious about taking each of our photos with a whiteboard listing our name and number.
[First humans on the trail!, such cute footprints, standard picture, plant that we thought was poodle dog bush- but now don't think it is, views down the mountain (with and without Fey)]
We then excused ourselves out to the curb, where we were soon swept away by Margaret & Michael, who had flown into LA from Japan after nine months of international travel. They came with salads, and off we drove to a gorgeous park in Palm Springs with a sensational view of the San Jacinto mountains.
The last three days have been spent at Uncle Ben’s, Michael’s uncle whom he grew up with. Margaret and Michael are recovering from travel exhaustion and jetlag, and we are resting our feet and rekindling our energy reserves. This means that we have spent most of our time together making food and catching up.
Tomorrow we hop back on the trail for a nine day stretch of hiking. We will join up with the gang, who have been resting in a cabin rental. We can’t wait to see the crew!
[200 Miles!!, Fey, Becky and Will at 200, sad little guy, walking under I-10, hello parents!, TJ's salads, Michael and Uncle Ben]
