After a great second night's sleep in a warm bed provided courtesy of the Methodist church of Wrightwood, CA, I managed to leave their unbelievably hiker-friendly town. My next scheduled stop was Agua Dulce, about 90 miles of trail away. My first night out I took a half-day and hiked 10 miles or so to the base of Mt. Baden-Powell. After a bit of a sleep in (7 am!), I took off to climb to the summit, which I had heard was quite icy from the talk of the trail. The trail quickly disappeared, leaving me to pick my own route to the summit. I chose to follow a few others tracks, abandoning the trail completely and climbing vertically. The next few hours of hiking, including the beautiful views of the summit were trail-less, but I was confident I was going the right way. Coming down the hill towards lunch, I met up with a New Zealander with a thick accent named Safari, and we hiked together the rest of the way. We must have made a good team, because we cleared the next 20 miles (which included a long detour because of a Yellow-Legged Frog Endangered species area) in a matter of hours for a total of 33 miles that day, leaving about 50 miles to Agua Dulce. The next day we hiked through thick shrubbery for hours, full of Purple-Poodle flowers up to neck level that had to be waded through. Apparently, these plants are more poisonous to the touch than poison oak, and made for some very itchy hikers. The climbs that day were relentless up to the 30 mile mark, and when I reached the ranger station (30.2 miles for the day), I was feeling a little sore, but eager to hike a few more miles to dark. I stopped to camp just past dark, on a ridge with great views of the sunset, only to go quickly asleep and wake up with a spectacular sunrise. Seeing the sunrise is something usually enjoyed while hiking, as my days have grown with my stamina to 12-16 hours of movement.

        The last 18 mile stretch to Agua Dulce covered some brilliant terrain, with vast views of desert shrubbery and rolling hills of chapparal in the distance as I dropped in elevation. Reaching Agua Dulce around noon, I scarfed down a large pizza (easily 6,000 calories), and walked on into Hiker Heaven. Hiker Heaven is the name of the Saufley's home in Agua Dulce, a thru-hiker compound of sorts that can accommodate up to 50 hikers a night. This is a tightly-run operation, with a laundry station (complete with retro loaner-clothing), large group tents, bulletin boards with up-to-the-minute trail information, and a veritable post office (100's of resupply packages in storage, and a USPS mailing station. It's easy to see why many hikers spend a few days here, it really is a hub of the trail. The Saufley's even supply a load of bicycles with baskets to do your shopping in town without walking. From here my next stop is ~113 miles, in Tehachapi. Although this is a notoriously hot desert section, the weather has been hospitable lately. 

Yours on the Trail, 

Rory

To learn more about the wonderful hospitality of the Saufley family, visit www.hikerheaven.com