Day 30: best day ever on the PCT!!! :D

Friday 5/18/12
Miles 369-378 (9 miles)
Elevation 9337'

Today is by far the most epic day I've had since I started the trail! I think y stoke meter is redlining right now. Lol.!!

This morning started off with an epic Zipline tour! There is a company called www.navitat.com and they operate right out of Wrightwood. It was so much fun!! Our guide was Kevin who is pictured with me next to the refrigerator, he is really cool. He was so stoked to hear about the PCT! Whoo hoo! A new trail angel in Wrightwood is born :) The company was super stoked to have us, we were their first PCT hiker customers.

Sorry I don't have pics of the Zipline, they're all on the other camera, I'll post them as soon as I can. But it was so much fun, we ziplined from tree platform to tree platform, we rappelled down some parts, and got to walk across some rope bridges! It was so much fun!! It reminded me of the zip lining I did in costa rica, except we were in a pine forest this time and not a tropical forest. :)

After the tour we had some brews with Kevin and he drove us back to the trailhead. Prior to leaving town I went back to Joe Mudd coffee shop and the barista gave us some homemade trail bars she made! They were so good!! Gosh I wish I remembered her name, she's awesome! Barista lady, if you're reading this please say hi! :) I ate 3 of them for dinner. Oh, also, prior to leaving, Siddartha went resupply shopping and a lady offered to pay for his whole bill! It was an epic day in town indeed. :)

We did get on the trail til almost 4, I think. Siddartha was gonna summit m
Mt.Baden-Powell which was about 9 miles away. I didn't originally plan to get there, because I didn't think I could do that many miles by this evening. Turns out I did!! I got there as the sun was setting and the sunset views were absolutely INCREDIBLE. Oh my gosh I can't even describe how amazing it was. It was so beautiful I wanted to cry. Just absolutely breathtaking. I tried to take a bunch of sunset and twilight pics, I hope they came out ok. It's funny because all this was within the last mile or so before I got to the summit of the mountain, and I stopped so much to soak in the view but at the same time I was trying to hurry up so I could get to the top before it got completely dark.

Oh, also, people who hiked this section a week ago had to go through snow. I was soooo stoked that there was such an insignificant amount of snow left. Yay!! :)

Anyhow, I finally got to the top and Siddartha is sitting at the monument. Awesome!! I have a pic of me hugging the monument. I was pretty stoked to see him there, as I really like his company. We've been kinda hiking together for the past 3 days, and I really dig being around him. He's quite a fascinating individual with a cool perspective on a lot of things. Plus he's carrying a bottle of super yummy whiskey. :D. But it was really cool to be around him the last few days, as I don't think I'll see him again after today. He's a full foot taller than me, with really long legs, so he hauls ass down the trail. I go a much more casual pace. Lol.

Speaking of scotch, i have a bottle of wine with me. Ugh my pack is extra heavy. Lol. But it's pretty yummy so it's worth it :)

After it got dark it got suuuuuper cold and windy. We both have ultralight tents which are a pain in the butt to setup in wind so we both just cowboy camped behind the monument which served as a wind blocker, because the summit is quite bare otherwise.

Anyhow, exhausted! I'm stoked to see the sunrise. Man what an amazing day. I am beyond stoked. :D <3