Day 16: 200 miles and beyond

May 5, Day 16: Mile 197.2-213.4

Miles Hiked: 16.2

Gratitude of the Day: I’m thankful for shade of an freeway underpass and trail magic cooler full of ice cold beverages. 

For whatever reason it was a fitful night of sleep, even though I should have slept well protected from the wind and nice temperatures. I woke at 4:45am to answer nature’s call. I decided I’d start to head downhill since the morning was already warm and it was 8.5 miles to the next water source and another 4000 feet of elevation loss. I hiked the morning alone and watched the sunrise peak above the mountains to the east. Once the sun was up, there was no shade unless one was willing to crawl under a rock, so sun shirt and sun screen applied I trudged down to the water some 3.5 hours away. I sat under the shade of a large boulder until the rest of the hiking crew showed up. A nice long break before we all raced across a thick sandy trail to the I-10 underpass where we were meet with a cooler full of ice and cold beverages. 

Zippy and I enjoying the best under bridge beer

A local trail angel will then whisk you from under this desert oasis underpass to the next town for food and resupply which is our intention. We wait under the heavy noise to the traffic above us, in shade and the beer has never tasted so good!

A trail angel Boogie takes people into the local town of Cabazon for resupply and lunch, we rode with her and I ate some lunch at Chipotle. The normal bowl I’d get prior to the trail would be worth two maybe three meals…. I ate it all!  Then it was to the local store to grab a couple goodies for the next three day climb into Big Bear City.

Back to the I-10 bridge after loading up with food and water via a local trail angel. We put our heavy packs on and slogged up the slow incline 5 miles out from the interstate and are camping at a wind turbine station. We are back in the desert and start our climb up the hills into Big Bear the next several days.