My tyvek ground cloth I am sleeping on smells like cow crap.

Since I walked so much yesterday I got to sleep in this morning and take my time packing up. As I left the site I saw that the three other campers were the three ladies from Idaho. We talked a bit and the. I continued in, excited about having a hot breakfast at the Warner Springs community center. I passed a bunch of other hikers who were packing up, several of whom I had spent time with at the RV park.

I saw several more hikers outside the building waiting for it to open. It is funny how it is kind of the same group of people you see every few days. The only time you see anyone new is if you (or someone else) stops for a day or two. Granted, if you start hiking an extra five miles a day, it will still take you several days of this to catch up to a different group.

The community center was good. There were about 20 of us in there eating breakfast. All the power strips were nearly full of people charging up phones and camera batteries. A guy was giving rides up to the post office which was nice. I went with him and got my box. The hot springs resort is closed due to bankruptcy, but apparently opening again later this year. Apparently this area was built by celebrities of yesteryear. Bob Hope helped to get the resort built and Bette Davis had a house built next to (what is now) the post office.

I had lunch at the center also and talked with a lot of people. I left there around 2:15pm. During the walk through the grassy field I came across a baby squirrel who seemed a little lost. It kept running away from me, but staying on the trail. I got some good video of it. At one point when I put my camera by it, it turned around and ran towards me and hid between my feet. I chased it back to the area where I first saw it. Kept trying to pop into what it thought were holes and eventually "hid" under a tiny bush. I left it alone and continued on. This whole 2.5 miles of trail I had not seen nor hiked on before.

In 1996 I met a doctor at the Post Office in Warner Springs. He had invited me up to the resort where he and his wife were staying. I spent the day at the hot spring pool and then had dinner with them that evening. I had a few, um, beers with them and I had him drop me off at the trailhead. I night hiked and it was awesome...until I got lost in the maze of cow paths that crossed the PCT.

Long story short I ended up off the trail and climbing a barbed wire fence, across an airstrip, and finally onto the highway. From there I didn't know if the trail was to the left or to the right. I went left (it was to the right).

So anyway, I hiked in the daylight this time and could find my way just fine. I saw a few things I missed like a great tire swing that might have been there in 1996.

After crossing the highway I spent a while trying to find the free that I slept under in 1996. I know this because I took a photo while I was laying down. I thought I had found the free but the branches didn't look to be correct.

I ran into Chief at a nice campsite by the creek. He said that after three nights of lackluster sites, he was taking a good one. I decided that I had gone far enough today since I needed to rest up a bit and not go so fast.

Had a nice dinner that was a meal that I found in the hiker swap box in Warner Springs. This woman had made these very detailed recipes and dehydrated them and put them into sealed Mylar bags. Although I am not burned out on my food it was a nice change of pace.

Camp