Miles today 7.5    Total miles: 50.5

Since the Mt. Laguna post office doesn’t open till noon, we slept in, and by the time we got up, all our aches and pains were gone. Hooray! After a snack, packup, and some journal writing, we headed to the store in search of breakfast. The coffee smelled really good, but we were trying to be health conscious (after all, we have 2,600 miles to go still), so we passed it up for fruit juice and other healthy goodies.

Then we hung around on the long shady porch getting acquainted with the other thru-hikers. Chris from Minnesota was there, reading his Bible and eating his GROSS breakfast concoction. He said he had to train himself to eat it because it tastes so awful, but it’s “very good for you”. He was also pressing flowers he had picked along the trail to send to his mom and girlfriend. In addition, we met Panda, Fish, and a girl named Bethany. Fish was sort of loud and enthusiastic, but Panda was quiet and kind. He let me borrow his latest “water report” notes, for which I was grateful, and quickly copied down as much as I could. Panda got his trail name because he uses bamboo for trek poles.

We picked up our boxes as soon as the post office opened, sorted things out and packed up. Next item of business: go for the SHOWERS a few miles along at Laguna Campground. It was a bit of a walk off the PCT, but boy did that hot water feel good! I did a bit of sock and shirt-washing, too, before we headed back to the trail late in the afternoon. The views from the PCT here are breathtaking—there’s over a 1,000 foot dropoff down to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park far below the trail. We finally camped just as it got dark in an area that was completely covered deep in wood chips!