Surprise, surprise

Last night something funny happened. It was already pitch-black outside and I had gotten out of my tent to brush my teeth. I was wearing my headlamp, and up the ridge to my left, I saw 2 night-hikers making their way up the mountain. They must have been at least a couple hundred yards away. All of a sudden the hikers stopped, and I realized they must have noticed my light. I heard a familiar voice call out through the dark:
“Hey, another PCT-hiker down there!”
I answered:
“Yo-Yo-Yo!”
The voice said:
“Who is out there?”.
I called out:
“It’s me, Joris”
“Joris man! It’s Strange & Bane!!!”

So funny, they were actually 2 hikers I knew well, we all started around the same date. Real crazy to have a conversation with them standing somewhere up the mountain, and me down in the valley, with nothing to distinguish but the dim flicker of our headlamps in the pitch-black night, somewhere out in the California wilderness. They were going to get some more ‘night-miles’ in, whereas I was happy to get to bed.

This mornings chores took me quite long, so I had a relatively late start. The trail flanked the hills of the valley for the better part of the morning, dropped down onto the basin again, and then went up and over to reveal a very nice surprise.

I tend not to take real notice of a lot of the things that are depicted on the interactive maps, otherwise I would have been well aware. Anyway, the trail gradually took us over the hills, and there she was; a beauty of a lake! My heart lifted, because it was really hot, and I was definitely ready for my first swim along the PCT!

The trail quickly descended into the lake area, and I had the luxury of picking whatever little beach suited me, they were all deserted. The water was cold, but very refreshing, and it was great to wash off the dust, sand and sweat from the past couple of days. The minor nuisance was that the beach was crawling with vicious ants, which did not go out of their way to charge, the very moment I set foot back on land.

I didn’t linger too long, and got going after a short break. A bit further up the trail was supposed to be a great pick-nick spot with the possibility to get cold soda and pizza. The trail flanked the mountains and kept presenting beautiful views of the lake. It was quite the sight.

Unfortunately at the designated pick-nick location, the shop turned out to be closed. No soda, no pizza. There were however some nice shaded pick-nick tables and faucets to refill water. I stayed through the hottest part of the day and continued around 1430. There was a brief session where I found my groove, rocking it hard to a nice Disney Tune on my mp3-player. But soon the going would get tough again. The long climb out of the lake-valley, to cross back over one of the higher ridges surrounding the lake was rough, and I felt my energy draining.

After dropping down into the same basin, where I’d started the day (only now a long ways further East) I could either camp, or take on another climb and descent over the next range of hills. In retrospect it probably would have been better to have stayed put, but that’s Captain Hindsight speaking. I wanted to push a bit further, because I was hoping to gain some miles on my buddies, who were still a day ahead, having hiked out of BB-Lake before I did. Even though there were no designated campsites, I hoped to get lucky, as I have been often before. The sun started setting, and my legs started hurting. The stunning views made up for a lot of it though.

On the other end of the valley, I was having no luck to find decent camping. And by now it was getting so dark I’d dug up my headlamp, and started hiking through the night. My optimism did not pay off today. I was very close to a major Highway junction with a very hiker friendly Best Western Motel. Because I was not keen on looking for a campsite in the dark, in an area that had no campsites listed, I decided to get a room. It was weird to step off the trail and find myself in the middle of a loud car-blazing turnpike madness.

I phoned the motel to find out how to get to the other side of the highway. The friendly gentleman told me to just walk over there. “There is no sidewalk, so best to walk on the side where the cars are driving towards you. In the past ten years, there’s never been an accident involving hikers. Be safe.”
Right….
No way that I was going to be the first hiker to get splashed. I called an Uber. The traffic looked insane, and without a sidewalk I felt super-exposed in the dark. You can’t put a price on safety.
Around 2100 I am happily in my motel-room where all is right again. I did not expect to get a warm shower today, nor to be sitting on a very comfy bed typing this entry, with the joy of Friends playing in the background on a large flat-screen tv. Tomorrow a continental breakfast on the house, and then back to the PCT!

Well I’m the king of the swingers Oh
The Jungle VIP
I’ve reached the top and had to stop
And that’s what’s bothering me
I wanna be a man, man-cub
And stroll right into town
And be just like the other men,
I’m tired of monkey-ing around,
Ooooh

Oobidooh,
I wanna be like you-ooh
I wanna walk like you,
Talk like you, too
You’ll see it’s true
An ape like me
Can learn to be,
Human tooo

I wanna be like you – We Love Disney (Fall Out Boy version)