Day 23: Worth the Wait

May 23, 2015
Silverwood Lake Campground (329.0) to Campsite on ridge above Cajon Pass (352.0)
23.0 PCT miles today, 1 non-PCT mile today
366.8 miles total
Today’s Elevation Gain/Loss: + 5,419 ft, – 3,714 ft

Wow, what a fun and exhausting day. We woke up this morning with one thing on our minds…today we would have McDonalds for lunch and Subway for dinner. This is a hiker’s dream. We only needed to hike about 13 miles to get to the famous Cajon Pass, where fast food joints and a Best Western all lie within 1/2 mile from where the trail crosses a major highway. We set out in the morning along with our new friend, Lieutenant Cuckoo Bird, from Vermont. We had met Cuckoo once in Idyllwild, but today we had the privilege of hiking with him all day, keeping a nice we-want-food pace. It was also his birthday which made the whole day that much more special.

Cajon Pass was a perfect midday stop. We hit up McDonalds first, filling up on meals and McFlurries, and then walked another half mile out of our way just to get a five dollar footlong from Subway to bring with us on the trail for dinner. We hoped to get in at least another 7 miles, making tomorrow 20 miles into Wrightwood (where we have a package waiting), but actually surprised ourselves by going another 2 miles past that.

Actually, we didn’t really go this far by choice, but the whole afternoon was spent climbing a steep ridge into some very dark and misty clouds and there actually just weren’t any places to set up camp. We found this spot just in time, got into our tent by 7:30, much later than usual for us, and dug into our sandwiches. Surprisingly, we have 4G way up here on a ridge in the middle of nowhere, but considering that Pickles is fast asleep already, I don’t see a movie in our future for this evening. Just a solid night of sleep with bellies full of tasty, calorie-rich food.