This morning I wanted to wake up early again, but I "slept in" till 5:45am. It was so nice to sleep without any others around me so I took advantage of it. But as usual, big mistake because it gets HOT as soon as the sun comes out. I've officially turned to podcasts on my walks. Especially those long ones by yourself, they really help get you through. When I get into the next town, I will have to download some new ones. I haven't taken many photos in the last few days so pardon me.
I have been surprised on how many water caches I have seen stocked. I mean, it's awesome, but I am always carrying 1-2L way too much water. I know now that my body usually drinks 1L for every 5 miles but this is in the morning. I tend to drink more in the sun/afternoon time. But I am starting to learn that about myself. Hopefully soon, I can start figuring out how much I eat. So far, I've been eating most of all my food I had resupplied from home because they are yummy. Some of the rice dishes have been a little meh but the oats are still surprisingly good. ALL of the candy is so good, especially jelly beans!! They make me so happy. I often will eat candy after dinner and get it from the next day's food bag.
I reached highway 74 (pines-to-palms hwy) after 11 miles from my camp. I see a man sitting under a tree on a chair with a cooler. His name was Hines and he was giving hikers rides from the trailhead to the Paradise Valley Cafe, which is only a mile down the road. What a nice man! I can't believe he just sits out there waiting for hikers to come through just so he can take us to get food!! Anyways, we had all been dreaming about this famous burger at Paradise. It's called the "Jose Burger" and it's said to be the best burger on trail. Hines drops us off and I see all of our friends sitting outside in the sun eating their delicious meals. I couldn't wait to join them!
I ordered the burger without jalapeños and it definitely lived up to the hype. It was so good, I ate the whole thing with fries. Since most people had been sitting there for like two hours, a few hikers were already hitting the trail. Paradise is also where the Mountain Fire Closure starts, so people were going different ways into Idyllwild. We are doing the Halfmile detour which is hiking the PCT up until the closure and taking a side trail to probably a long road walk into Idyllwild.
I gave my mom a call since it was her birthday yesterday since I was out of service. Will from Zpacks had also texted me letting me know that he sent out new guy likes v stakes to Big Bear for me. They are so good to me! The kind cafe workers filled our water bottles for us behind the kitchen. We headed out shortly in which I don't think my burger had fully set in yet. We ran into a girl on the trail who just threw up her burger. I was totally sluggish this afternoon, as well as most afternoons. I hiked out with the Texans and we camped at 157.36. All of us were feeling pretty tired today. Nate's tummy was a bit upset from lunch. We should really reevaluate hiking out in the hot sun after gorging ourselves in town next time.
We found a cute little spot for our tents to all fit. I was happy to be done so we can have more energy in the morning. My feet are always throbbing nowadays. I ate a snickers and jelly beans for dinner. I had to set up my tent where there were a million ants on the ground. They are so busy in the desert! They seem to always be on some type of mission and are carrying crumbs all the time. I hope they don't come into my tent tonight and crawl through my mesh holes. I went to bed wondering if ants sleep at night?