23 April 2021
Guffy Campground to Vincent Gap
PCT Mile 364.4 to 374.0

I had a really tough time with the wind last night. I think I was so anxious that it might get too cold to sleep that I wasn’t able to just get cozy in my warm-enough state. I didn’t really get to sleep until about 1am. But it’s okay. I feel well-rested and today is town day!

But today is also a little sad. Goose needs to go home to take care of some personal matters. I will miss him, but we’ve become friends and as I’ve said to him more than once “this isn’t our last rodeo.” I’m sure we’ll be hiking together again in the not-too-distant future.

Today was a great day to celebrate Goose’s 374 mile hike. I left a little before him to get in some pre-dawn miles, and he was only about 20 minutes behind me. The sunrise was spectacular for both of us.

The trail goes by some ski areas with lifts and fenced-off water basins for making snow. They don’t share with thru-hikers (booooooo!!!)

I took a wrong turn around the first basin, but it was about the same distance and there was a deer on the way!

I got to Blue Ridge Campground, where I agreed to meet Goose, after a little more than an hour. I sat on a picnic table in the sun and warmed up like a lizard.

Maya was packing up nearby and she stopped by on her way back to the trail. It was apparently much less windy down here than it was for Goose and me up at Guffy and she slept great. Oh well!

About 20 minutes later Goose showed up covered in blood!

He took the same wrong turn as me but ended up going downhill towards what he thought was the trail. When he saw it below, he said “What would JimmyJam do?” The answer was apparently to head cross country straight downhill (he really knows me!).

But this hill was covered in whitethorn ceanothus….

Ouch!

And when he realized his mistake he had to swim in the thorn bushes back uphill.

I felt so bad for him, but he was able to apply some first aid when he reached the campground and he was fine.

We continued on, hiking together the rest of the morning.

At Inspiration Point we caught up with Maya again and also some hikers who had gotten rides up from Wrightwood. A trail angel even offered to give us a ride to town, but we decided to hold out for Vincent Gap, where my road walk will begin on Sunday.

And then all too soon we were done.

At the Vincent Gap trailhead parking lot, Goose made a beeline for three young day hikers to see if we could get a ride to Wrightwood. Success!!!!

They dropped us at Jensen’s where we chatted with a hiker who had apparently made a lot of money hustling pool in the local dive bar. Yikes!

Then we found a place called The Yodeler that opened at 11am for lunch with craft beer and bar food. Perfect!

After lunch, I checked out our AirBnB and no one was there so I messaged the owner asking to let us in early. She did! Woo hoo!

By the time Half Cookie showed up from San Diego at 4pm, we were showered and lazing by the fire.

Half-cookie arrived with some scrumptious salads for dinner, and there might have been more beer drinking….

A great day, memorable and beautiful.

Today’s Hike-U:

A Great Walk With Goose!
Two hundred fifty
Miles to share and persevere
Hope we hike again!