I woke up this morning to find the bathroom at the Warner Springs community center was out of toilet paper. It seems as though people had been using the bathroom as their own personal toilet paper resupply. Luckily, their paper towels worked and I was able to drop a little weight before heading out just before 7. It was a gloomy day with clouds hanging low in the mountains. I would be climbing right into them.
As far as I could tell, I was the second person to leave Warner Springs and I soon passed the one person in front of me. I was all alone on the trail. After a few hours of hiking in the clouds, I noticed a car on a dirt road not far from the trail. Shortly after, I heard someone yell to me. “Do you want some muffins?” they asked. I looked back and saw 4 figures emerge out of the mist. It was my first encounter with trail magic.
A dad was dropping off his son after a day off the trail. He decided to bring muffins, clementines, and capri sun for thru hikers. They were worried they missed the crowd from Warner Springs but I assured them they hadn’t. They asked how I ended up in a position of life to hike the trail. I told my story and we chatted for awhile. It gave me a nice boost on a pretty lonely day of hiking.
In the early afternoon, the clouds broke and the sun began to shine. The mornings cold temperatures, and a Capri Sun, let me get 17 miles on a small amount of water, but it was time to refill. The water report mentioned somewhere by the name of Mike’s Place with a large cistern. Mike’s place is a bit of a desert oasis, where hikers can go to get pizza cooked in a wood fired oven, somewhere nice to sit down, and an ice cold Natty Ice. It looks a little bit like a junkyard, but it was a great quirky place for an afternoon break.
I was the only hiker there, so Josh (the guy who seems to run Mike’s Place) chatted with me for awhile. His full time job seems to be partying with thru hikers. If I hadn’t gotten there so early, I may have stayed the night.
Instead I headed on for another 5 miles. I was hoping for a little longer, but sometimes your feet tell you it’s time to stop. I found a protected spot on the sand.
With my new resupply, I put together an amazing dish of chicken flavored rice with bacon crumbles and some taco bell fire sauce. It was divine. Tomorrow, I should be eating at the paradise valley cafe, a hiker friendly restaurant, just off the trail.