Day 23 - Best Western, Cajon Pass

I am so glad to be an adult and have a credit card I can use, and pay for. I don't really know what it is but sometimes on a long backpack trip there is nothing more aluring than an indoor space with hot water, a way to keep beer cold and a clean bed. Really, what more is necessary? Sometimes life really is that simple. 

Twenty-three miles is a long way to walk. I hadn't really planned to go this far but I arrived at my target camping spot at 2pm, way too early to stop for the day. Plus it was hot and dry there in Little Horse Thief Canyon. So, what to do? Well, further on was hot water and a bed... famous last words. 

So walk I did. Over and over again my feet kept up the pendulum thing and low and behold I finally got my sorry ass to the junction with the 15. As I was stepping onto asphalt I saw a gal walking back to her truck. She looked suspiciously like someone looking for hikers so I brightened up and said hey! She was Lion Heart, former PCT hiker and an angel to me. She was driving back to her home in Ukiah from the Kick Off and stopped here thinking there might be some hikers needing assistance. WOW! Did I need help right then!

She offered me a beer and we yacked a bit till I finished and she DROVE me to the hotel. Drove I say. With rubber wheels, shocks and the smell of auto stuff she delivered me to the best ever Beat Western where I plunked down my credit card and here I am, drinking a beer, yacking along here and getting ready to erase the stink of four days hiking. 

Lion Heart! Thanks!

The next image is of me with 23 miles of hiking under my feet. 

Note the wild hair and steely eyes. Both caused by too much wind and lack of repose. 

Me, after a shower and beer.