I wake up around 5:30AM and say damn it’s much colder than I expected it to be. I slept great, quilt and liner kept me warm. Tents frozen as can be though. Dew point must’ve been high and with the temp dropping it’s a recipe for mean condensation.
As I am packing up my stuff I start laughing when I look over at Tardy who cowboy camped. His bags frozen solid. Luckily mine wasn’t that bad, my tent looked worse. He asks me what my plan is to dry it out. I tell him I’ll pitch it at McDonald’s.
It’s 6.5 miles to McDonald’s and I leave camp at 7AM sharp. No reason in particular I was just up and can’t sit around long ADHD problems. Seven and Tardy say they’ll be leaving within the hour.
I start off up the trail and my phone goes off. It only goes off when I have “good good service.” Let’s see what emails I have today. Oof Montbell denying my warranty claim for their rain jacket sleeve shearing off in the wind. Tough hit.
Time to find a new rain jacket. Will never buy another Montbell product again. This one didn’t even last 100 miles. This email however found me well. It motivated me, pushed me up the miles of elevation gain because I was honestly annoyed. Once I got to the top of the mountain I was golden again. They did say they would fix it for me. But “it would be expensive”
I thought the “we’ll fix it for you” was an opening to ask for I don’t know 5% maybe 10% off another 270$ jacket. But they weren’t having it. I’ll have to apply to this company after this hike and go make changes from the inside, run the place the way it should be. Like by actually manufacturing good sound products
After deleting these two useless emails I start to jog downhill. Let’s change the mindset, burn some leg power and absolutely burn off that steam, a little trail run on the ridge it is. I slowdown and stop for the wind when it picks up but I just kept the sun on my back and the wind on my shoulders. A nice momentum boost as songs flick through on my headphones. Especially the Elovators.
I comedown from the mountain through a rolling field into the valley and see a running stream. It’s a sight to see. The suns just poking over this one and it goes to show how much up and down I just did. I don’t need the water that’s here but I always like seeing it.
Another .2 and I finally come to the sign that says McDonalds .4 to the right and know I’ve made it to breakfast. All said and done I made great time getting here.
I get into the McDonald’s and grab a booth. I place my order on the kiosk and wait for it to be delivered to table 178. The place is absolutely packed, it takes a while but I’m in no rush, I have to wait till 10:30 anyways. A half hour goes by and Seven and Tardy walk in. I scooch over and let one of them slide in my side.
My food comes to the table and the girl says “I’m sorry we’re out of apple pies is that ok?”
I say yes that’s ok I understand but I will say that’s extremely disappointing. That’s two nos I’ve gotten so far today on things I wanted. (Hums you can’t always get what you want song)
Seven laughs during this interaction. I’ve been telling him for three full 20+ mile days how good the McDonald’s apple pies are and how badly I wanted to get 3 of them. That’s honestly the only thing I was looking forward to from McDonald’s. But like a good thru hiker I roll with the punches. The young girl sends out a couple strawberry pies and apologizes. I thank her and give them to Tardy, I’m not a strawberry guy.
I finish my food and grab a refill on my 6th Sprite. Tardy orders 39 cookies for his 2 days to Wrightwood. His plan is to eat 39 cookies for a total of 19,440 calories to get to Wrightwood. There’s really nothing else to say to that. At his age he can do that. I’d have a heart attack, and most likely shit my self before hand.
We wait until “lunch time” 10:30 so we can order burgers, nuggets, and a couple of mchickens. After stocking up and leaving McDonald’s I open up my tent and tyvek and let it dry out outside on the hot cement. It’s windy, it’ll be dry in 10 minutes. We run to the gas station next door to grab some additional snacks for our McDonald’s and then walk the .2 back to the trail. Tardy stays back to charge his devices and call home from the WiFi.
Seven and I get back on at mid day. It’s literally all up hill from here to Wrightwood and a 14 mile water carry so I left McDonald’s with 2.5 liters. I filter the gross bridge water to round it up to 3. While walking the first few miles I still have good service. I book our cabin in Wrightwood through a trail angel. 120$ for the weekend and Rennaisance is going to meet us there to split it for the three of us. Nice, he’s 4 miles ahead of us. We have to hit the post office Monday AM.
As we get to the top of the afternoons first peak we sit and watch the train go by. Wonder where it’s going and what’s on it i think. While sitting there Seven and I both say eeh I don’t think there will be anywhere to camp later the way this terrain looks. We look on the FarOut map and realize there really isn’t. It’s either push on and crush another 20+ day or have a chill day and call it early at 14 miles.
.2 miles ahead I start to look around in this dry creek bed and say yes this is it. Home for the night, Renaissance texts me and confirms it. He’s finding nothing ahead too. We’ll crush the last 10 miles to Wrightwood tomorrow morning at a nice steady pace. Planning to be hitchhiking by 12PM, in town by 1PM and eating real burgers by 3:30PM.
I set my tent up and have plenty of time to relax. I read a little bit, eat another 10 nuggets and 2 cheese burgers, watch Sassy the Sasquatch on YouTube, and chill with Seven. We laugh at our hilarious shirt tans and talk about how we think Tardy will roll in around 7PM with melted cookies.
6:52PM rolls around and Tardy walks in with a big smile on his face, he says hello and chats for a bit about our plan for the fire closure ahead. After that I head off to my tent and get ready for bed. Looking forward to crushing tomorrow’s 10 and a day of good town food.
The Pacific Crest Trail 