April 25 | 462.6 - 478.2

We woke at sunrise to book it to the next trail angel oasis..

Last night, Crazy Eyes had hooked me up with a veggie pizza he carried out as thanks for my Roger deal. I feasted on the leftovers for breakfast and also put on a sweet fairy tattoo he’d gotten for me at the pizza place.

The morning consisted of gentle rolling hills through some dry greenery.

The miles flew by without breaks as I made headway over the exposed terrain. Before long the trail spat me out at the highway where I found some of the crew.

Then came time to get the hitch–my specialty. This time we tried a new approach: I stood in the road and thumbed it while the guys hid in the bushes. Within 5 minutes, Steve and Marlene pulled up in a little black lemon and the dudes ambushed the car. The 4 of us piled in and we had a good laugh about the lil trick.

We rolled up to Casa de Luna where we promptly donned our customary Hawaiian loaner shirts and lounged the afternoon away.

Before dinner we met the legendary Terrie Anderson, who hugged each of us filthy animals upon meeting us. She requires you to dance for her in exchange for a PCT Class of 2019 bandana–my moves weren’t nearly as creative as the guys’, which included a bit of a flashdance that Terrie totally went for.

For dinner she cooked us up a taco salad buffet feast. Her one rule: don’t hold your plate over the ingredients. The punishment was a smack on the butt with a yardstick (she gets a kick out of it for sure–there were multiple offenders).

We chilled late into the night before setting up camp in their backyard, which is a giant Manzanita grove strewn with colorful painted rocks.

I had a sweet night of sleep in the forest after I Irish exited the party around 9.