Miles traveled: 20.9
Mile marker: 328.8
I really need to plug this hole in my sleeping mat. I tried it in Big Bear, but it didn’t work.
I mix my cappuccino and Abuelita’s (a Mexican hot chocolate that tastes a little like hot candy and soap when cold) and Dad and I hit the road.
The hot springs look inviting this morning as I watch a woman in a bathing suit walk toward them. I could enter the hot springs now if I wanted, but then I would be wet. And cold.
Not ten minutes into the walk, I take off my fleece. The sun rises over the hills and casts a golden ray in the sky. I follow Dad up a ridge made of hard sand and rocks. Across the river, sunlight reflects off small rocks and casts waves of shadows across the landscape.
Dad and I discussed the possible name of my trail: Tailwind. I think it’s cool, but I guess I always have this idea that there’s a better, cooler name out there. Or maybe people will always assume the worst about my name: “Stay out of Katy’s tailwind!”
The fact is that I travel with my father’s tailwind and that is why I can travel so many trail kilometers.
Cross. It sounds very good.
We came to the rainbow bridge, an arched bridge that someone painted with a rainbow, and I look across the beautiful river. I look down and see a giant rock underwater. I vaguely wonder what would happen if I jumped off the bridge. Would it land on rocks underwater? Sand?
It’s starting to get hot now. The sun casts long shadows as we continue walking. Dad points to an upside-down tree with a large rock stuck to the roots. How wonderful!
Bumper joins us as we walk along the ridge toward a wash that looks like a skate park to me.
It’s a giant concrete platform with walls on each side. Pink, purple and green graffiti lines both sides of the wall.
Dad lets out some kind of animal call and the echo goes for miles. I follow his example and my voice cracks at the end. The echo travels for about ten seconds. It just goes and goes.
Dad, Bumper, Lucie and I are lying in the middle of this house-sized space. I eat a funfetti pop tart, a flavor Rafiki loved, and I give everyone a piece to try. None of us like it very much.
Bumper is a guy with shoulder-length brown hair who sometimes wears bright blue shorts with cookies on them and always has a pair of badges attached to his backpack. Now he wears dance pants because it irritates him.
Lucie is a woman my age with a long braid, she travels with deodorant and carries a turtle in her backpack. She is from the Czech Republic.
We continue walking this path while it’s hot. A river crossing makes us stop to drink some water and soak our shirts. I slowly put the soaked sleeve over my wrists before pulling it over my head.
It’s always so cold!
My socks and handkerchief rinsed, we continued. I’m walking behind dad when I see a black coil.
«Oh!» I jump back.
It’s a black rattlesnake. He looks as cozy as a cat on a couch, tongue out and back in. However, he doesn’t yell at us.
I take a step back toward Bumper, but he doesn’t move because he’s looking over my shoulder. This is the first Bumper’s Rattlesnake he sees on the trail!
He finally steps aside, so I take cover behind him and Lucie.
We climb onto the grass and rocks and turn around. Dad walked past him! And I would have done it too if I hadn’t seen it!
We probably come across so many rattlesnakes around here.
We walk together until we reach a tunnel of trees. I sit on the log bench and straddle a knot in the log. Bad idea.
«There’s a caterpillar on you. I can catch it with my sleeve,» I tell Lucie, clumsily covering my hand.
Lucie, sitting on the log with me, gently plucks the caterpillar from her shoulder and then, out of nowhere, throws it four feet away from her into the trees.
I stared, mouth agape, and we both burst out laughing.
Meanwhile, Bumper was trying to warn him not to touch it with his bare fingers because they might sting him. Their thorns can irritate the skin!
We found a place to have lunch next to a river and we all sat in a circle under some trees. Rafiki is taking a nap with his feet elevated on a nearby tree.
We finish lunch and soak our shirts again. The sun hits our backs.
I have to pause a couple of times to adjust my shoelace. It’s too tight and I still can’t control these laces!
I walk quickly to try to catch up with Bumper and Lucie. Rafiki is with me and dad is behind.
I walk for a while without them, today the irritation bothers me. I’ve used about half the tube of Desitin that Dad lent me. I’ll need to get a new one soon at this rate.
Bumper and Lucie are sitting on a dim slope, red-faced and sweating. Rafiki and I joined them. A few minutes later, Dad is also with us.
It’s really uncomfortable here. My feet support my body, so there is a lot of pressure on them. They feel hot and tense.
We continue moving forward until we reach a road. There is a large space next to the road and we all lay down on the pine needles and rocks. No shoes and socks and snacks in hand!
The norovirus is looming over us. There was an outbreak and they believe it was spread by someone with the virus using the water tank we go to.
“Maybe we should buy water at the gas station and pack it up,” I say. It would be a great haul of water.
We’ll all be sick at the Wrightwood hotel! say.
“We’ll all look like we’re on a sled if we get in the bathtub together,” says Lucie. We both burst out laughing at the image.
We continue forward. It’s a little breezy but we fly through the next part. We’re five miles from camp. My legs are irritating but I don’t want to slow down. Lucie is ahead of me and she didn’t even train much for the trail. I get inspired by their ability and try harder.
The lake appears next to us. It’s big, blue and attractive. The weather is getting colder so I’m not sure I want to swim in it. My irritation is still alive and irritating me in new places.
We passed between trees and ridges. Towards the end we flew over grass as tall as I was. It feels like a video game when the grass closes in front of me because Lucie walks ahead and I can’t see anything. Next thing I know I can see and I need to turn the corner and jump over a dry stream.
The pain of my irritation has dissolved a little. We reached an open road and walked to the trailhead (following Dad). Wandering around a bit more, asking a couple of people for help, and we found a spot for the tent! The office is closed and there is no way to pay for a seat. We settled down and decided to go to the cashier tomorrow to pay.
Like an udon bomb, I wash my handkerchief on the pickaxe while the others order pizza (not me, I have too much food to carry) and then walk on Rafiki’s back.
Lucie offers a shoulder, since I was limited with nothing to hold on to, so I jump on Rafiki’s back again, holding on to Lucie, and Rafiki groans loudly. Lucie, Bumper and I laugh (although Bumper only listens to us and doesn’t look at us).
Rafiki is not very happy. And I’m not sure if his back is better or worse.
Mosquitoes are a cloud above us, blown from side to side by the wind. It’s like an ocean wave that pulls and pushes something along the coast. They hum a high-pitched song, like a symphony of flutes.
The next thing I know I’m in bed. Everyone else goes out to a late-night pizza party and eats you until they’re uncomfortably full.
Me? Bedtime!
McDonald’s tomorrow!
