pct day 18 - 05/23/13

after a relaxing day in wrightwood, i spent some time at the coffee shop and then hit the trail around 09:00. i had no idea just how beautiful the hike would be. this picture is of the valley i had climbed from the previous two days . . .



this is a sign meant to tease us . . . just kidding . . . not really . . .



i climbed up to baden-powell peak, 9,399 feet and easily experienced the best views on the trail thus far. here is a 360 degree shot . . .

john muir once wrote that san jacinto peak is the best view in so cal, but in my humble opinion it is definitely baden-powell. unbelievable. here is another pic of my hike down from the peak.



this day just got better. there is this reroute of the trail due to an endangered frog species, so it means that one has to start a 2.7 mile road walk followed by a 1.5 mile trail back to the pct. as i came out on the road i noticed this guy standing by the road about 1/10 of a mile down the road. due to my super awesome eyesight, all i saw was green and thought to myself, "great, park ranger . . ." as i approached he called out, "need something to drink?" i was like, um . . . ok . . . it turns out that cartwheel, his trail name, is hiking the pct this year but had to get off the trail for two weddings and decided to drive out from l.a. to perform a little trail magic during the long weekend. below is a picture of four of us enjoying some magic.


we waited for a few more hikers to come off the trail and then cartwheel drove my bag the rest of the 2.7 road miles to buckhorn camp ground. i decided to run the miles and ended up having an awesome evening with some more amazing souls. thanx so much cartwheel, you rock!

my lesson, so very obvious, is to not make any assumptions, negative or positive. what is thought was a park ranger, ended up being the best trail angel i have ever met . . .

23 miles from wrightwood/highway 2 to buckhorn camp ground. 393 miles total.

- tribhu (tree-boo)