So about 4am I woke up to Marshall rummaging around camp and sounding like he was packing up. If Marshall was writing this he would have written: "So about 4am I woke up to Craig rummaging around camp and sounding like he was packing up."

This seemed odd to me since Marshall was pretty tired and talked about sleeping in. I sat up and I could hear someone opening up their backpack over near the only other flat spot at the campsite. I saw Marshall's tent still intact so it was another PCT hiker...one who hikes until 4am.

It was kind of nice to not pack up and leave for once. Usually that is the way I like to hike...pack up and eat breakfast a few miles down the trail. Today I felt like sitting put. Travis who I met yesterday passed us, and later a girl named Brooke.

I made a breakfast of mashed potatoes, gravy, eggs, refried beans, and coffee. After breakfast was over I started to pack things up. I drew up a little card to go put by the poodlebrush to tell people not to touch it. There was a lot of talk about poodlebrush but several people didn't know what it looked like. I drew out a crude drawing of MC hammer with the text of "Don't Touch This" on the card. I placed the card near the poodlebrush and put a rock on it.

Marshall hung around camp a bit longer and I took off. Morning hike had Bauhaus for the musical selection. I ended up having to go up off the trail to take care of some issues. On my way back to the trail I stepped on some pine needles which were on top of a sloped rock. Therefore...I went a-sliding'. My wrist got cut pretty good and looked like something from a bad horror film.

As I was taping it up a hiker came walking by whom I hadn't met. I introduced myself and he said his name was "Whitney Houston".

Later on up the trail, at the last place to get water for about 15 miles I ran into Marshall and Whitney Houston. WH told us the origin of his trail name.

He hiked the AT a while back and on his first day a couple old time hikers asked him what his trail name was. He had the I Will Always Love You song stuck in his head, so he just replied "Whitney Houston". The other hikers were incensed and said "That is not a trail name, you won't last a week out here with that attitude! You need to be serious about your trail name." Therefore out of spite for these two guys he made his trail name Whitney Houston.

I continued on and eventually reached the trees again. No more desert for a few days. Saw someone in a sleeping bag laying on the dirt road. It was the guy Lion King whom I had last met under the Scissors Crossing bridge. Again, just like last time, he was trying to meetup with Spoonman. He was low on food so I gave him some of my things that didn't require cooking.

My music player quit working so I had nothing to listen to. I thought it had run out of power so I had it on the solar charger despite it being cloudy. I eventually just plugged my headphones into my iphone and listened to ABBA's "Dancing Queen" on repeat for about 40 minutes. If you were paying attention a few days ago you will know that song is the only one currently on my phone.

Around 3pm Marshall and I got to the Coon Creek Cabin which is this cabin built way back when. The sign said you can rent it for 70 bucks a night. You can't have fires in it, it has no closing windows, but it does have garbage service.

I cooked meal #2 there and ate it. The clouds were rolling in so I was trying to hurry it up. My music player started working again and had almost a full charge, so apparently the panel puts out enough power even when the skies are cloudy. This perked up my mood so I listened to Alex Chilton and Alice Cooper for the next couple of hours. (yes, still have the A-C card in the player).

The next few hours were pretty productive and we put in several miles. Some days you can have 10 miles in by 10am, other days it is 3pm. Today was the latter.

Passed the Big Bear Hostel's water cache that they maintain. I didn't need any water but grabbed a soda. Marshall was behind me and since it was nearly cold I kept moving.

I was in a really good, but cold, groove until I reached camp. By the time I had my tent setup and dinner started Marshall showed up. Turns out he was smoking his pipe while he watched the sun go down.

This was the third heavy meal I have cooked today, I'm pretty sure I hit my 5000 calories. Thankfully my sleeping bag is warm because tonight is gonna be really cold.