Day 11-12: Bad Santa to the rescue

We spent day 11 trying to do a lot of practical things: wash the last of our clothes and gear, work on our next YouTube vlog on our Chasing Endless Horizons channel, Instagram posts, blog posts, etc. We could also take advantage of our unexpected free time.

Kamisha, the trail angel who helped us, stopped by at 3 pm with the shoes. Ditte tends to be unlucky sometimes, so the first thing he always does when the shoes arrive is check both sizes. She got the wrong sizes before.

And you would know… Amazon had delivered the wrong sizes again. The right shoe was a size 8 and the left was a size 7.5. What are the odds?

We immediately called customer service and explained both their mistake and our situation, making it very clear that we needed the shoes by Sunday at the latest. Well… it’s safe to say that Amazon wasn’t much help. The soonest they could deliver the correct size was Monday afternoon.

Ditte was sincerely angry and Benjamin couldn’t believe our bad luck at this point.

Then, almost at the exact same moment, we remember: Bad Santa.

A trail angel who had offered to help us a few days before.

We called him, taking the biggest gamble ever, hoping he could be in San Diego, be able to stop by REI, pick up the shoes in size 8, and maybe somehow get to Julian with them over the weekend.

Almost too good to be true, this absolute legend of a trail angel immediately offered to do just that, and even came over that same night with the shoes.

One Friday at eight in the afternoon the doorbell rang. There was the best Bad Santa we’ve ever met, holding Ditte’s new shoes and wearing a big smile.

Ditte hugged him and awkwardly admitted that she was close to tears of gratitude and relief. Your response:

«It’s what we do.»

What a hero.

We made sure to take a photo to remember such an important moment.

The next morning we had breakfast at Julian Pit Stop. So delicious. The owner even offered to take us to the post office so we could return the shoes from Amazon. Really nice guy.

After that, we strolled around the town square in Julian until Kamisha kindly drove us back to the trail around 1 pm at mile 101.3 – Barrel Springs.

The mission for the rest of day 12 was simple: hike as close to Warner Springs as possible without creating new blisters…and finally enjoy being on the trail again.

Curse. What a week!

This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any products or services you purchase using links in articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price they would otherwise pay, and their purchase helps support The Trek’s ongoing goal of bringing you quality backpacking information and advice. Thank you for your support!

For more information, visit the About page of this site.