Day 15 – 250 Miles and Boom Shacka Laca

Miles traveled: 17.5

Mile marker: 265.7

I wake up feeling like I ate 10 fried pancakes last night; I don’t know why, but that’s the first thing that comes to mind.

We began walking in the morning glow. Dust rises at Rafiki’s feet, the earth glistening in the light. The sun casts our shadows behind us, long and spread out.

The wind blows through the trees, sometimes loud as a symphony or calm as a secret.

This trail has been nice so far. Smooth and downhill. Dad and I chatted about a book called The pampering of the American mind.

We have plenty of water left as we fly through the forest. We have already reached 250 miles!

We passed a couple of hikers. One says, «Hey, you have to come see this.»

We walked to the tent and walked around it to see all the commotion (from the two hikers).

A hiker named Mountain Crab, so named because his friends say he walks more sideways in the fight than forward, has his tent pitched.

He had gone on a side mission and left his tent up. It looks like a curious bear walked into your tent with a dramatic scratch on the side and a giant tear in the middle. The food was well wrapped in a food bag in the store, but the bear didn’t understand it!

Mountain Crab gives me some ramen and a snack bar (thanks, Mountain Crab) since we’re running out of food tonight. Now I don’t have to eat oatmeal for dinner!

Our path continues in the blink of an eye. We met a lovely woman, Linda, who has lived on the property for 50 years! He has such a sweet smile and demeanor. Less than five minutes later we meet her husband, Tom, a kind gentleman who has worked extensively on the PCT.

We soon arrived at our tent site. Easy day! Tom stops by and we tell him our plan to hitchhike tomorrow. He offers us a ride! Thanks Tom!

Richy walks past us, a strong guy who walks fast and hard like a storm. We had heard there was magic on the trail, but Richy offers to text me when he gets there since he’s hooking up to Big Bear today.

A few minutes later I receive a call from Richy.

«Hey, Katy Perry!» » he says (I told him my name is spelled like Katy Perry’s). «You have to get down here! There’s a truck full of food! Hot dogs, soda, beer and watermelon!»

Dad jumps up gracefully and sets off. I throw my stuff in my bag (there are day hikers here, so we don’t want to leave anything behind in case our stuff gets stolen) and jump up to leave.

«Oh!» I say to Rafiki: «Do you want me to wait for you?»

«No, you’re fine,» he says. I run and find dad waiting for me. I guess I didn’t have to abandon Rafiki after all, which makes me feel pretty bad. I practically ran the 0.4 mile to los angeles of the trail.

What a beautiful view! We walked to a tent with a grill, food tables and lawn chairs. They offer us dogs with cheese and chili, watermelons, apples, oranges, biscotti, Oreo cookies, chips, soft drinks, carbonated waters, beers, gummies and starbursts.

It’s so much food I don’t even know what to do with myself! They offer us hand sanitizer and wipes. I sit back and enjoy the amazing hot dogs, something I’ve been thinking about for the past week!

We enjoyed the company of the angels of the trail, a group of Orange County hikers called Boom Shacka Laca. They hold this magical trail event once a year. How amazing is it that on the day we run out of meals, we receive this great gift when this group only does it once a year!

We hung out here for a few hours and met the angels of the trail. In their free time they do some fairly long walks.

I chat with Peggy and Marika, who speaks French (so cool!). I’ve been really interested lately in how other women older than me live their lives, so it was nice to know that they work, go to Bible studies, and read when they’re not hiking.

Bob and Tahoe are getting married in five weeks and Bob is obviously surprised by his fiancé. It was really sweet to see how much he adored her.

«What do you like about hiking?» asked.

«Oh, I love morning coffee and all the animals,» Tahoe says.

“I love looking at the earth and thinking about how it came to be,” Bob says, reminding me closely of how Dad thinks about nature, too. Bob has a Californian accent and sounds like an older friend from my hometown, Doug.

I’ve noticed these things on a small scale since hiking the trail. I am much more aware of animals. Just before Whitewater Creek the other day I sat for about ten minutes watching an ant trying to break up a little piece of tortilla I dropped. I even separated it for him, since ants can carry three times their body weight (if my grade school memory serves me correctly).

I feel like my relationship with nature is changing. With the animals. With the land. I have clearly learned a lesson: step by step. Never has that saying been clearer than on this journey, when I’m struggling to move forward but taking the steps anyway. I’ll look back and think: Hey! I was there a few minutes ago! I’m making progress.

Mountain Crab appears and says, «I guess you don’t need the ramen now.»

«Oh, do you want it back?»

«No, no, you can keep it.»

I’m glad because it looks like high quality ramen!

We say goodbye to the amazing trail angels, I grab a bowl of hot dog chili and add some fried foods. How tasty!

I’m so glad we were able to hang out here with all our free time today. Boom Shacka Laca was a huge blessing. The trail provides!

We settle into camp where Denis wanders around and says his usual random comments and jokes.

Soon it will be time to sleep another night. Can’t wait for Big Bear!