It was cold, gray and windy this morning, and we were hiking along IN the clouds, which swirled all around us.  I call this “cloud ballet” because of the dramatic, graceful way those graywhite swirls dance and leap and turn.  And then hooray!   We reached the 500 mile post!  That was worth a cheer!   No sunpatch for breakfast–all we could do was hunker down, gobble granola and go.   The guidebook had ecstatic descriptions of the views (“You can see Magic Mountain!  Hollywood!…) Oh well, at least we had “cloud ballet” to watch.

But finally we came to The Big Right Turn and headed down, north, into sun at last and Antelope Valley views.  Where the trail turns east, we were VERY glad to find that instead of the rough, deeply gullied mess we had to deal with in 2005, things were much improved (though there were a lot of “blowdowns” to contend with).

We reached our first “poppy patch” and I was very excited–sure enough, when we finally got down INTO Antelope Valley, there were poppies everywhere, plus lots of green, irrigated fields.    The PCT, of course, takes its own sweet time about getting there, by travelling way off to the east.   By 2:30, we had reached Hikertown, an experience in itself, where hikers can choose from a crazy array of accommodations.  Bob the caretaker met us at the gate and gave us a tour.  Hikertown is made up of a random collection of old Hollywood “western town” false fronts, only here, there really are ROOMS behind the “fronts.”   The “post office” really IS the Hikertown PO, where all the hiker boxes come in (ours was there, hooray!).  The “feed store” is actually the computer room and a sort of museum as well.  The Hikertown garage has been turned into a hiker lounge, with lots of comfortable couches, a TV, a kitchen and a large dining table.

We ended up chosing to stay in a “room” that was half a shipping container with a clock tower on top and a 1950’s Rolls Royce parked outside.  Bob gave us a ride down to the store, where we got ice cream and other treats.  When we got back, I did our laundry, but had to dry it by hanging it on a fence, since the dryer wasn’t working.  It was so windy that things dried very fast, but I kept checking for fear that something might blow away off into the valley!   Bill worked on doctoring his toes–he has some blisters.  Bummer.  My feet are fine.  Other hikers were there, hanging out and waiting for the UPS truck to arrive, because one guy, “Maximum Chill” had ordered a new pack and was anxious to receive it and head out on the trail again.  There was much rejoicing when the truck got there, and the pack DID come!

Eventually I went to the kitchen and made us some dinner, which included a fresh fruit salad (very wonderful after days of trail food) and some other hikers found a cake mix.  They decided that passing the 500 mile mark was worth a celebration, so Bob the caretaker rounded up some eggs and we ended up with a great chocolate cake plus ice cream to go with it.  We feasted and laughed and talked till all of a sudden someone looked at their watch and gasped, “Yikes!  It’s almost Hiker Midnight (9 pm)!!” and we all scurried to bed. 

I had written in the Hikertown trail register, “The PCT goes WAY west, then WAY east.  Why not make a new trail straight from Casa de Luna to Hikertown?”    This is a fun place to be, and it really was great to be able to celebrate 500 MILES DONE!

 

Walk to Lórien: Streambed near Bruinen