I left the Saufleys at about 6:00am with no intention of walking the full 24 miles to the Anderson's. I waffled for the rest the day on whether I would stop at this notorious party house. After about 17 miles there is a water cash that is set up by the owners of Casa de Luna. In the trail registry it said "there are two kinds of hikers, those who stop at the Anderson's and those who wish they did". I didn't want to miss out on a huge part of the trail. I mean everybody talks about the Anderson's. But I wasn't in a party mood and that's with the house was known for.

I ended up running into some other hikers. They were planning on going to Casa de Luna and had a ride lined up. I could hardly refuse a taco salad and pancakes for breakfast in the morning. And that's how I ended up at the Anderson's. I had a good time. I didn't end up drinking anything and I got a great night sleep. The next morning I left at about 830 agter only a 12 hour stay which may be a record for staying at the Casa de Luna vortex. (It is renowned for sucking hikers in for days at a time).

I took the last 22 miles pretty fast. And it was totally worth it. Hiker heaven is so organized and the people are so nice. It was really my kind of place. I stayed up until midnight around the campfire eating s'mores and talking with Burrito Grande what a good evening.

The next day I just got a ride to REI and I ended up with four new Paris socks. We stopped at In and Out on the way home I have too many burgers, a milkshake and some crazy french fries.

It was a great place for a zero day and I'm so glad I took it!

Huge thanks to the Saufleys!!

Disclaimer: in the next 20 posts or so I'm going to use the dictation option on my iPhone to speed things up. I'm only going to edit it minimally. We will see how it turns out!

Today we entered serious put of the poodle dog bush territory. The poodle dog bush is a terrible terrible vegetable. It stings like my poison ivy I guess.

It stays dormant until after a burn or disturbance in the soil. This morning the map said the poodle dog bush was easily avoidable it wasn't easy. This afternoon it was labelled mostly avoidable. I didn't want to be mostly free from poodle dog rash. Ewwww.

To escape the poodle Donbush., We took the road detour and got a little lost. It was okay though, we found the roght road andI made camp with the Swedes for a great evening.

I made it out of camp in record time this morning and headed out to water, seven miles distant. I made it to the water mid-morning, and ran into Stumbling Beef, who I hadn't seen since Kickoff and was last hiking with Daddy Long Legs. Unfortunately, Daddy Long Legs (Mr. Hanley) is still 100+ miles ahead. It is unlikely that I will run into him this summer.

Stumbling Beef headed out and the Swedes, Birdman, Cowboy, Yard Sale, and Burrito Grande showed up talking about hiking the extra 1.8 road miles to get lunch at a biker bar. I initially declined the invitation (who wants to walk 1.8 miles each way for a burger?! Oh, right. Every PCT hiker EVER). About five minutes after the guys had left, I realized my mistake and beat feet to catch them. I finally caught up just before the road walk began. 

We made it to the bar, Newcombs, and while it was expensive, it sure was delicious. Oh boy. A cheeseburger with an Ortega pepper, spicy cheese, bacon, and an egg. Man oh man. I let the boys take the first hitch as I had taken the first hitch to Wrightwood. Unfortunately, no one showed up to drive me to the trail head. I started to walk up the road and grabbed a hitch with the second car that passed. The girl was nice, and it was all going swimmingly until we missed the trail head. I ended up walking about a mile back down the road to the trail head. Oh well. The burger was worth it.