Days 15 & 16 - Thursday & Friday, June 7-8

Got back on trail to find it's still windy but not bad. I caught up to a section hiker named Lorax who is just going to Agua Dulce and stopping for this year and then will do another section next year. He does 10 miles per day. He lives in Auburn and hikes on the Western States trail sometimes. He likes taking pictures of the trail for his relatives back East.

The first eight miles are at 7500' then I start descending into some canyons. I'm weaving in and out of these super hot, long canyons for what seems like forever. Sometimes the trail is hard to find but I am following Lon's footprints since he is wearing Montrail hardrocks. So I just search around until I find his prints. Jerry did the same thing on the first day when he was running backwards from Lake Morena since two of the boys are wearing hardrocks. I knew I loved hardrocks! LOL!

I caught up to this guy with his ass hanging out of his pants and acting pretty strange. He was carrying a rolling suitcase on his back like a pack with an indian blanket and a gallon jug of water strapped on top. I just passed what looked like a homeless encampment with a smoldering fire. I'm really nervous about this weirdo so I take off running for a couple of miles through the canyon to get away from him.

As I neared mile 313, I started looking for a place to camp. It is really windy and there aren't any good places to camp. I finally decided to camp right next to the trail.

On Friday morning I awoke to find my sleeping bag wet on the outside. I had put my waterproof tarp over me because of the wind and the condensation from my body heat and the hot ground couldn't escape. At least the inside wasn't wet. I had to hike a few miles across these sand trails on the side of the canyons that were really narrow. The footing was bad and I had to use my trekking poles just to keep my balance. It was really sketchy! One mis-step and I could fall off the edge and no one would find me.

After about 8 miles, I came to an overlook of this huge lake. The trail started down towards it and then followed the shoreline for several miles. It is Lake Silverwood. The largest lake I've seen down here since I've done Angeles Crest, San Diego and other ultra races. Of course, it isn't as big as Lake Tahoe which is 165 miles around on the TRT. As I passed several little beach and camping areas, I could see lots of boats on the lake pulling water skiers, people BBQing, and just having fun. And no, guys, I didn't go skinny dipping! Probably should have though ;-) I came to a campground but decided to skip it for my night camp.

Here I am eating a peach and apple that I got from a cooler the trail angels put out. Was I glad to find it. The fruit tasted so yummy! I know where they get their name, they are definitely angels in my book.

Lon had called and said he was 10 miles from Cajon/ Hwy 15. I figure that I am 20 miles away. Hey Lon, I'm still carrying your sunscreen. I'm getting on trail by 5:50 these mornings so I could catch him by Agua Dulce.

Tattoo Joe called and still wants to hike with me. He told me he isn't doing the yoyo but some eastern loop after he reaches Canada that no one has done before. I still think I am too far behind him.

I reached mile 332 before setting up camp for the night at 3800'. Here is the elevation profile of my trip for my last 2 days.