I wake up at 6:30. The air is surprisingly quiet. The wind must have stopped sometime last night. I pack up my things and hike out of the dry creak bed with the OCBoyz.  

 The morning sky is a magical baby blue. Everything feels fresh and awake. Even the dead trees have a kind of life to them.

           

The trail starts to head down into a cloud. I brace myself for a wet and cold blast but the white mist is surprisingly dry! It passes around us and is gone in a matter of seconds, evaporating over the dry earth.      

Switch back after switchback the trail lowers itself down towards the valley. The hills transform from populous boulders and dead trees to waving grasses and sporadic wild flowers.    

 
   
Jeff takes off down the trail and Jonathan and I keep pace. The air grows warmer the lower we descend. I look over my shoulder and see storm clouds forming behind the ridge we climbed yesterday. 

 
Looks like we successfully jumped through the good weather window.
Jonathan and I take a small break on a rock. The views are amazing. A train whistle can be heard in the distance. Tiny wind turbines wave from far away hills. It’s cool to see where we’re headed.   

We hike on. Pausing every now and then to take a picture. 

Jonathan stops me.

“Where’s the 200th mile. Did we pass it yet? I didn’t see a marker”

We check our maps.

Mile 200.27

This guy is good! I would have just blown right past it! We take a celebratory photo. 

 
Yay! 200 miles!!

Then we find this at mile 200.89.   

“They’re a little off.” I say.

“Maybe the person who carried it up here got tired” observers Jonathan.

We laugh. 

Finally we reach the valley floor.  

 There’s a spigot by a road. Yay water! Hikers lounge on nearby rocks. I recognize almost all of them! We find Jeff in the shade of a large boulder. I set my pack down and head over to the spigot.
 I try to catch the small trickle with my water bottle but the wind makes it tricky. I successfully capture 2L and plop down in the road to take a break. More hikers show up and soon a line forms. The wind sends the water spraying into the air.
After a good rest, Jeff, Jonathan and I start the trek across the valley. Our next stop is Ziggy and The Bear’s house. The trail goes down a paved road then into a large dry flat river bed. The sand is deep and hard to walk through. We stray to the edges of the trail, looking for firmer footing.     

The wind dances through the dry grass. Everything seems to permanently lean in one direction. We cross under some power lines bouncing in the wind. They make a faint high pitched screaming sound worthy of a horror movie. 

 

The earth starts to harden into cracked patterns. I wonder what this area looks like in a storm.  

 We eventually pass under a highway. It’s fun to think of each car sound zooming by as a person sitting. They’re sitting so fast!  

The trail leads us around a small suburban neighborhood to Ziggy and The Bear’s house! Ziggy and The Bear are trail angels that let pct hikers rest in their backyard. The entire area is covered with carpet! There’s spaghetti and coffee and hot water! The Bear sits us down and has us fill out a register. He then takes our pictures. I’m the 571st hiker to come by their house! Amazing! Ziggy then gives us each an ice cold Gatorade and piece of fruit. These people are just the epitome of kindness and hospitality. Thank you so much Ziggy and The Bear!

   

Jeff, Jonathan and I set up our tents on the opposite side of the fence and make dinner. I paint the nearby mountains.     

The sun starts to set. We relax on a couch and people watch for the rest of the evening. There are so many interesting hikers! 

Camped at Ziggy and The Bear’s. Around mile 211 of the PCT

Miles hiked today: 17