Day 24 – Outside Wrightwood: Memorial Day in Baden Powell

Miles traveled: 14.5

Mile marker: 383.9

I love real beds. Real mattresses and real bathrooms. My double French braid is half torn out, so I look like I’m rocking a 2010 soccer mom haircut.

My earplugs are out and hidden somewhere under the blankets. I wonder what makes me take them off while I sleep.

Bumper and Dad are already awake and talking on the phone when I finally accept that I can’t go back to sleep.

The plan was to leave at 9:00 am, but at our pace, we may be a little slower. I walk down the shallow carpeted stairs and discover that Lucie is in the shower, again! That girl will take a shower when one is available. Later, both Dad and Bumper take a second shower too, so maybe it’s just that I don’t take advantage of the showers.

Our Airbnb has a Keurig machine, so I sit on the couch and enjoy a black coffee and the rest of my soft cinnamon bun.

Yesterday Dad helped Lucie shake out her bag. Lucie was heavy, so there are a ton of her items: hydrocortisone, glasses cleaner, medications, eye drops, and other random things. She disposed of the conditioner and deodorant, which she later retrieved, and tried to retrieve her shirt before he stopped her by pulling the box out of her outstretched arms to send it home.

We wandered around the Airbnb until we finally closed the door behind us and walked down the porch stairs.

Poor Rafiki no longer has a sleeping pad, so we head to the Mountain Hardware store so he can buy a thicker Nemo pad. Additionally, the tips of their trekking poles have disappeared. Basically, your entire team is failing you.

The girls, Bumper and I return to the bakery. Savannah stopped by the supermarket and bought an orange. It smells delicious, sweet and juicy. Oh how I regret not getting more produce in town!

Oh yeah, let me tell you about Savannah. She and I were born the same year, so we’re part of the 1997 club. She’s a strong runner with a brunette braid and is very smart. He recently earned his PhD in aerospace engineering, or bioastronautics, if you want to be fancy. This is great, because Dad loves this stuff and now he can chat with someone who actually knows about it (aka geek).

Savannah met Christina Cook, who is the Artemis astronaut who circled the moon! Savannah was with some of her friends from graduate school at Mount Albert in Colorado. He ran into Cook and was chatting with her when he realized who she was!

He also met many other scientists. It’s great to walk with her!

I order a breakfast burrito and an orange juice. I bet you can’t guess what I thought of the burrito.

Gentle.

Wrightwood has not impressed me with his cooking skills! Good people, yes.

Dad and Rafiki return with a thick new Nemo mat, one that Rafiki will use until he can get a new air mattress.

We all rested outside while having breakfast. Then we headed back to the Mountain Hardware store. We all weigh our backpacks. Mine weighs about 38 pounds!

Wow.

That includes most of the complete food transport and the complete water transport.

Oh. Pretty heavy.

We headed to the highway to hitchhike. Awkwardly (not for Dad), we raised and raised our thumbs. There are no interested parties. We go down the road a few meters. I turned my head to see Lucie running across the street. An older man holds up two fingers. «I can have two!»

I run after Lucie. This guy is refueling his Subaru Outback at the gas station. We get in the car and his black lab, Bella, wags her tail and tries to lick us. I sit in the front while Lucie is overcome with emotion in the back.

I soon see the rest of our group catching a lift too.

Once we reach the trailhead, we say goodbye to our driver as our group pulls up to the other car.

We start walking and I walk alone and behind everyone for a while.

I soon catch up to Bumper. We bumped into an older French couple.

«Your dad? He said you have cats?» he says. There’s a cat carrier in his backpack! A black and white cat jumps out of the cage to chase something up a hill. It is held by a retractable strap.

“I would love to live in France,” I say, recognizing his French accent.

He gets into a long conversation about why he doesn’t like France. His parents are Iranian and the school system he worked in was very racist. Even looking at his last name, he and his wife didn’t get the same insurance coverage as everyone else. Plus, he and his wife make a lot more money and retire here in the US.

Bumper and continue down the road. We meet everyone who has received magic on the trails from someone we hike with: Karen! Bumpers and I don’t get a Gatorade like the others. I guess whoever gets up early gets the worm.

We continued in an excruciatingly long uphill battle. Oh boy. It goes on forever and I start listing all the things I like about trail running… with a touch of sarcasm.

“I love climbs!” Panting. «I love blisters. I love when I pee and it gets on my shoes.»

«Okay, so I’m not the only one,» Lucie says.

«I love the heat and the chafing and I love freezing at night. I love getting up at five in the morning. I love that my feet hurt all the time!»

Of course, this is not true at all. My calves burn as I slowly climb the hill.

We finally did it! Dad and a group of hikers have lunch at the top. I sit behind dad and eat. It’s sunny and hot, but as soon as the wind comes it’s cold. I take off my wet shirt and replace it with my raincoat.

Dad and I retreat to a log where we have a great view in front of us. We took a photo and ended up talking about life. About how you are the author of your life. Regardless of the hand of cards you’ve been dealt, you can improve your life with what you can control.

We talked for a long time. I hope everyone is gone. When we get back to the trail, our group is still there! I feel something tugging at my heart because they were waiting for dad and me.

We took some photos at the top of Bader Powell. I start singing the national anthem. Bumper joins me. Soon, we are all singing the song in different keys with long pauses where we can’t remember the words.

All of this happens while Dad takes individual photos of everyone. I’m singing while eating my meat stick, so pieces of meat come out of my mouth from time to time.

It’s a fun memory. Although we had a good time singing the song, it really means something to me to be there with the American flag behind me. The flag my dad fought for. The flag that my family sacrificed their dad for.

Before, I didn’t understand why military families were thanked for their service. I never served. As I grew older, I realized that I had, in fact, sacrificed something very big for the country. My sacrifice was that my dad risked for the country and left.

Our group descends the summit like ants. We pass through rocky terrain and burnt trees often fall. We go down more and more. A slope of small pebbles is our path until we reach the campsite.

We arrived and set up camp. The bathrooms smell very bad. The wind catches the putrid smell and blows it into our noses.

It’s so disgusting.

My new store is glorious! So big! It’s basically a palace! For dinner, I eat a disgusting mutton bomb with chicken and cheese salad. I have to force myself to eat the rest. I wash it down with a snickers bar.

Soon I’m in bed with all the space in the world. Good night!