Day 19 May 25, 2017

• Daily mileage 12
• Total mileage 337
• Hours hiked 5:30 am to 11:00 am

MCDONALDS!

No rangers showed up at my stealth camp last night.  It continued to be quite windy and even in my protected little spot amongst the trees it blasted my tent a few times.  Got up at the usual time and dawdled about a bit because it is a short day.

Finally got rolling and almost immediately ran into a young couple by the names Tyler (Bear Can Kan) and Madison (Little Bear Can).  I fell into stride with them for about 6 miles.  For pretty much the first time this hike, I chose to hike with someone else rather than solo.  It was really enjoyable chatting to them and would have been perfect if it were not for Tyler's farts.   

Tyler and Madison

The day never really got all that hot.  There was a very stiff wind blowing all morning, to the point that I hiked in my wind jacket the whole way to Cajon Pass.  Usually that is stored away by about 9 am.  The terrain was a bit mundane until we left Little Horse Thief Canyon and started the descent to the pass.  There, the terrain had formations that kind of reminded me of the Hoodoos in central BC.  

Little Horse Thief Canyon

Kind of like the Hoodoos

Ridge walking

Just before I got to my final destination for the day at Cajon Pass, the trail took us down a small piece of American motoring history.  We walked part of the road bed of Route 66.  That was kind of cool.  It went into an extremely narrow, twisting canyon that would have been like no other major highway today.     

Route 66

Route 66 as it entered a narrow canyon

Then I reached a sign that every PCT hiker knows and dreams of:   

Yup, there is a McDonalds almost on trail

Sat with a pile of hikers eating way more Mickey D's than I thought possible.

But I did not have this much!  Will from New Zealand (he ate all but two burgers and took those with him)

Hikers taking over McDonalds

Same

I must say that the staff at the McDonalds were fantastic.  There were probably 25 of us unwashed, ripe hikers, all with our packs inside (through hikers hate to be out of sight of our packs because they contain all of our worldly possessions) pretty much dominating most of the seating area.  But I guess from a business prospective, having starving hikers in a restaurant is not such a bad thing!

I have decided to stay here in Cajon Pass for the night.  My strategy is to resupply from the three gas station marts as best as I can and then make a run for Agua Dulce rather than hitching into Wrightwood in two days.

I understand that there are some of you readers of this blog who believe that I am not actually hiking this trail because I am not in any of the photos.  Perhaps you feel that I am actually secreted away on a small Carribean island getting spa treatments by day and drinking rum based girly drinks by night, all the while pilfering pictures from other PCT blogs to make it appear that I am on trail!  Well, let the image below act as proof for you skeptics.

Proof that I am on the PCT

Home for the night