Merry Christmas!
Day 28
... Well, happy Memorial Day for you folks, but for Andy and me it's Christmas eve! Tomorrow we will hike into Aqua Dulce to get picked up by our girlfriends to spend a few days with them in LA. It's just about a month since we have started, so it'll be great to see them.
We woke from our nice camping spot and hiked the short 11 miles. Since for the past few days we have been hiking big days, we are actually a day early into Aqua Dulce, so we decided to make today and tomorrow short days, and relax a little. We were hiking to a KOA campground right on the trail. Our book says you could order pizza. Done deal.
The hike was short and hot. The temperatures rose while we dropped in altitude. Luckily, we made it to the campground just after one. We hiked the way we were instructed by the book, only to find the campground had moved in the opposite direction. So, we went back. We had no idea how far it would be, and we thought we saw it from the trail up in the mountains, but ended up trusting our blind intuition and hiking past the trail. We came upon it quickly. As I was saying the other day, when food is involved, we will do anything.
We finally made it here and a nice guy named Frank greeted us and let us into the employee's room to relax inside and get out of the heat. He offered us the phone since there is no cell service, and called the pizza place for us. Unfortunately, since it is a holiday, they were closed, as well as the Chinese spot in town. We weren't too bummed because we knew we would be with the girls soon, so got some candy and ice cream to suffice for the night.
We were showed the way to where we could camp, and passed the swimming pool, bathrooms, and a lodge. Pretty neat campground! It was fairly packed because of the holiday weekend, and when we got to our spot, we immediately noticed the gazebo. We knew instantly, The Dusty Camel Castle was born. It's built off a hill, so it stands on risers with one entrance. There is electricity and even lights (although we didn't turn them on out of respect for our neighbors). Best of all, WiFi! So, we took an easy afternoon, planned getting into LA, and now sleep tarpless in the gazebo awaiting Christmas morn.
--Ian
