It's Raining Magic 🧙♂️
Trail magic (noun) When someone brings food, drinks or other treats to give out to hikers
There were a lot of highs today.
I started my day around mile 90. Since we have been feeling the effects of the heat wave, "10 before 10". Has become a bit of a slogan on trail. The idea being if you get 10 miles before 10, you can camp out for the peak of the heat and still get plenty of progress for the day. That meant, right as I was finishing my 10 before 10, I hit the 100 mile marker. I came across almost exactly one week after my start date. I am sure I will get faster, but it felt pretty nice to start with a pace of 100 miles per week.
My 10 before 10 ended at a spring where I intended to fill up water and hang out for a while until some of the heat passed. While I was getting water and situating myself, Grizzly Grandpa showed up and announced he had cold drinks and snacks for us. Grizzly Grandpa is a former PCT hiker and trail angel that I met at the very start of the PCT. He had the cutest Golden Lab puppy named Nevada, the best part of the trail magic.
After drinking multiple cold beverages and eating some snacks, I returned to the spring to rest. The goal for the day was to end a little before mile 109, there is a community center there with laundry, showers and charging and we were going to show up early tomorrow to do all of our chores. However, as we were sitting at the spring, Keleo — a fellow hiker I met day 2 and have been hiking with a decent bit — saw on FarOut that there would be more trail magic at the community center. Someone was going for a day home and had pizza and cold drinks to give out afterwards. I am not one to miss out on free pizza.
With the promise of this reward, we set it from our siesta just as it was starting. On the way to Warner Springs, we passed Eagle Rock. Unsurprisingly, it is a rock that looks just like an eagle. It is actually quite cool. It is also one of the most iconic landmarks in the desert section, it was a really cool "im actually doing this" moment to see it in person.
When I got near the community center, I set up my tent, but my backpack in and then went to where the magic was. I was just in time to get some pizza before it ran out. The trail angels kept giving us more cold drinks and snacks and told us about their time on the Appalachian Trail. Theyb later night hiked to Eagle Rock with a backpack cooler, on their way back they gave us a beer — they couldn't give us them before since the community center was on school property.
Lots of great moments today. Will resupply food at the community center tomorrow and then get back on the trail.