Tues. May 17    Miles today: 21.6     Total so far: 131.2   So. CA  Section B

I should mention that we had a delicious and lively dinner last night with 6 other thruhikers, all with tales to tell of their adventures so far.  Included were Josh & Anna, who began with us at Campo!  Bill and I agree that Warner Springs is DEFINITELY a place to stop–great food, pool–what more can you ask?

Today we were back ontrail by 5:30 am, on a beautiful morning with high clouds.  Not far from Warner Springs, we came to another of the innumerable pipe gates that we’ve encountered so far.  They are great landmarks for helping us figure out where we are!  Breakfast was beside the trail with the sun breaking out from behind the clouds and silhouetting the mountains. 

Soon we were at the green, grassy, vine-y jungle of Agua Caliente Creek.  It’s in a canyon with walls so steep that the trail has to zigzag across the creek 4 times.  We decided to take advantage of the shade to get one nice rest break, then it was back to the chaparral and a steady, rocky climb into the San Jacinto Mountains.  The wildflower display continued to be amazing.  One of the hikers at dinner last night is from around here, and he said the flowers are usually dead, dried up and gone by the end of April, but this year it’s been so cool and rainy that they just keep blooming.  My response to that (as a confirmed wildflower freak) is “THANKYOU, Lord!  I love this!”  When I am really hot and tired and the trail seems endless, each bend brings a new “set of beauty” from the flowers. 

The more we climbed into the San Jacintos, the more interesting the mountains became, especially the rock & dirt colors.  One of the hills was actually a light pink color!  We met Josh & Anna again at the turnoff to a spring where we all went to tank up on water.  For the next hour we were climbing with great views.  We stopped at noon to cook dinner in a nice shady spot with a perfect flat cooking rock.  Dinner was beef stroganoff with homegrown tomatoes and green peppers, accompanied by hot mochas. 

But after that, we were hiking through a very barren zone where a forest fire burned everything and little has regrown–except the wildflowers!  It was sad to see so much destoyed, but wonderful to see that the first new regrowth was so beautiful. 

 When we got to one of our landmarks–the crossing of a road–we came to an “Awwwwwww-how sweet!” moment.  Somebody had left some full water jugs labelled with the names of Josh and Anna.  “J” and A” had scribbled thankyou notes on the jugs.   They must have awesome friends!

From that point was the climb to our highest point today–5,595 feet at Combs Mountain.  The panorama from up there was incredible.  We could see the route poor Anza took with his men when they were trying to develop a trail from Mexico to San Francisco.  Moving on, now late in the day, Bill had fun taking a bunch of wildflower pictures.  I think my “wildflower thing” must be contagious!

We made camp early (7:00) because we were so tired.  My left ankle is really hurting and is puffy in one spot.  I am taking Motrin (known on the trail, I hear, as “Vitamin I”) to manage the ache.  When I lay down to write this, my feet were actually throbbing from a long day of hiking, but one good  thing is that my shoulders are no longer sore.  They seem to be settling in for the hike!