Day 16, Trail Magic!

5/4
Daily mileage: about 20

Today was an amazing day, I had my doubts when it started but it was great.
First we had to finish getting of that mountain. A few miles an we passed the 200 mile mark and wound down excruciatingly slowly to the valley floor where we got water!




Then it was a few flat miles across the crazy desert floor. Not our most scenic section but the wind was so ridiculous you had to stop and laugh as you were blown feet off the trail as you trudged through the sand only to end up at the creepy underpass of I-10.
















Except under the freeway was trail magic! Lake to Lake you are amazing, bananas, oranges, soda and cookies were beyond perfect.




On we went up towards the Mesa Wind farm, amazing shade, cold water and a bathroom. What a day.












More climbing and winding around as we got to the wind tunnel that is the San Gorgonio Wilderness. We were booking it down the mountain bc 0.5 miles off the trail we had heard of the old whitewater trout preserve that hikers could camp at with rumors of a river and wading pool...
























And oh my god this place is amazing. It's now a private wilderness conservancy with a beautiful ranger station, trout ponds and a wading pond. We sat in the river and then the wading pond and finally made it to the ranger station. The rangers were amazing. They chatted with us we looked at all their flower guides so we could learn what the heck we have been staring at the past week. We left with free fresh mint, granola bars, celery and citrus. And along with our free campsite we had running water, flush toilets, a dumpster and electrical outlets. Living the life!
We had heard a boy scout troop would be camping there as well and were just getting ready to wander over and try to yogi some free food (ie mooch free food like yogi bear) when we heard someone shout are you hikers?
And there was Lake to Lake and Warner Springs Monty with trail magic. We got sandwiches, chips and salsa, coleslaw, potato salad and brownies. It was soo good, and totally unexpected.
After our food coma we watched a beautiful sunset, did parking lot yoga and watched an almost full moon rise.
Did I mention we saw a big horned sheep on the cliffs behind the ranger station? Such a good day.
And look we're making progress...








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