5/1/17

Day 8

Miles: 105 to 109.2

So sadly today we had to say good bye to most of our trail family as they were moving up the trail while we were moving to Temecula to have my foot examined by a doctor. 
Galen stayed behind, waiting for his wife to pick him up tomorrow and drive him to Idyllwild where he would rest for couple days, giving his blistered feet a break, while waiting for his son John who decided to walk the distance on foot and hopefully they can resume their hike together from there.

Dave and I arrived at Warner Springs after a short 4 mile hike through another meadow and a thin forest of tall lush trees. We were curious how are there trees thriving here. Later we were told that there is a large underground water table in the area from the glacial melt centuries ago and that’s what keeps the area green.

Warner Spring is a small community with a big heart opened to hikers. At the edge of town there is a community center offering bucket shower, laundry, computers, hot coffee, and a large field for hikers to pitch for the night. The stuff is super friendly and when they heard we were in a need of ride to a doctor, they told us there is another lady they are already arranging a ride for and offered that we could join.

Our ride was Ken, husband of one of the ladies volunteering for the center and he took a great care of us, driving us to town, waiting, and driving us back with a stop at Jack in the Box for cold drinks. Along the way he told us about history of the region and pointed out some interesting spots along the way. It was so very nice of him to do this for us, complete strangers. As I said, trail angels are awesome.

My injury turned out to be legimentitis, and I was advised to wrap the foot for extra support and take it easy. I think the doctor saw few PCT hikers before because he said that the best thing would be to get off the foot for a while and than he smiled and added: “But that’s not really an option for you, isn’t it?”

Back at Warner Springs Galen invited us over for pizza and we spend the evening chatting with him and couple other hikers until the stars started dotting the sky.