Whoooooooooosh

Day 13

Shaky shaky shaky shaky tent. As soon as we closed our eyes, the walls of the tent vibrated with determination, and the poles of our tent bent like rubber bands. We had rocks on top of the stakes, everything tightened, and paracord acting as lines for the reinforcement points on the tarp. Still, it shook as if the very ground beneath us was falling through.

Around 9 we fell asleep for the first time. We actually were woken up by a couple asking for directions. We opened the shaking tarp door to see two shivering hikers with headlamps asking how long to Idllywild (12 miles via PCT). We guided them to a side trail we saw that would bring them down to a road so they didn't have to hike through the mountains in the crazy weather. We quickly went to call them back and offer them the little space in our tent, but the wind carried our voices the wrong way.

After that, I fell in and out of sleep for the next 8 hours. At about 3am, both Andy and I shot up startled by the depression in the side of our tent -- then soon went back to sleep, for a short while. As the morning came through, the light start to illuminate our tent and we decided to quickly pack up and be on our way. We did as much as we could in the tent, then went out into the cloud in which we were engulfed. The wind was furious, and the temperature frigid.

We quickly hiked on, and pushed through the short hike we had planned. We eventually got to the road, and began a walking hitch (hitch hiking as we walk the direction to town to save ourselves from boredom). Finally, a nice older woman picked us up and brought us in to town.

So we got our resupply to last until Big Bear City, some food, and a room at a nice little hotel nearby so we could clean ourselves. Tomorrow, we will be off and back on the trail!

Today, we also got word from our friends at the Coachella Valley Hiking Club today (the group we ran into yesterday) and they gave us a new name. While The Dusty Camel will forever be our trail name, business name, and our way of life, we will also now be known as Kane Imiloa, Hawaiian for men who wander and explore.

--Ian