200 Miles in: When Times are Tough, Channel the Poodle in the Pink Tutu

Checking in

Hello there! Catato here reporting from my trail friends’ cute little cabin in Wrightwood, CA. I’m going to catch you up on miles 100-200. This trail continues to amaze me! 

The Tale of Princess Poodle

It started off strong with a visit to Ealge Rock – a rock that is magically shaped like an eagle, if you didn’t figure that one out on your own. We arrived there on mothers day, and ran into a lovely group of women celebrating by wearing tutus and taking pictures with the majestic eagle. They even dressed up their dogs, one small dog in a pink tutu and a large dog in a pearl collar. A spectacular sight, really. They kindly offered to take photos of us with the eagle. As the photoshoot is going on, we see an animal chasing another in the distance. With a closer look, we realize it is the tiny dog in a tutu chasing a BABY COYOTE. The baby coyote was cleary terrified, and was barking and running for its life. It was one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever seen and yet also somehow inspiring? When you are scared, lacking confidence, or just having a bad day, be the princess dog in a tutu!

A Hiker Oasis

After a hot morning, we made it to the community center in Warner Springs. It was truly a hiker haven! We did bucket laundry, shopped at the little grocery that stocked all of the hiker faves, took an outdoor shower, and chilled in the shade with all of our hiker buddies. It was a nice, refreshing break. It also happened that the local church was having a special mother’s day bluegrass concert and dinner that was donation based. They welcomed us dirtbags and were curious about our PCT journey. We even got a shoutout from the fantastic bluegrass performer, Vickie Vaughn!

Over the next few days, we did some night hiking to avoid the heat. We were rewarded with little frogs all over the trail. The person in front was always on frog watch. On day 9, we originally planned to do 20 miles. However, we got to the famous Mike’s place after 14 miles, and the relentless wind convinced us to stop for the day. It is a very interesting place, I would compare it to a junkyard. Random thingamabobs were strewn across the yard, and Mike was nowhere to be found. Lost set up on the porch to block the wind, and we thought she was crazy because of how spooky it seemed to sleep next to the abandoned house. Tunes and I set up our tent using huge cinderblocks, as the ground was too hard for stakes. In the middle of the night, my tent completely blew down. Tunes peaked out from her tent and said, “Catato, is that you? Do you need to come to my tent?” I immediately said, “Ok! Come on, Potatum (Lost’s little crochet potato that she is lending me for emotional support)!” Lost bragged the next day about what a wonderful night of sleep she got.

Follow the Little Pink Flags

The next day, we ended up hiking over 19 miles after a huge day of climbing to get to Little Bear Hostel, which was about a mile off trail. We followed the pink flags and were so releived when we finally arrived. Inside the garage, we found our friends Mazzy and Annika! It’s always exciting to see hikers that you are not sure if you’ll see again. We got to sleep in the laundry area with baby chicks and a cudly kitten and dog. The hosts also kindly made us pancakes and coffee before we took off in the morning!

Day 11 was a day we were looking forward to, because it was a town day. We got into the Paradise Valley Cafe in the morning and got a ride from a trail angel into Idyllwild. We wanted a nice place to rest, so we rented a cabin at the Idyllwild Inn. The receptionist was so sweet and gave us her favorite cabin. She even gave us two free homemade pies! The next few hours flew by. We did our town chores and got ready to meet up with all of the hikers at the brewery. Lost and I decided to put pie slices in plastic baggies and bring it to the meetup, it was a hit! Later on, we invited everyone to karaoke down the street. We were the only ones there, which made it fun because we did not hold back. Sparkles blew us away with a performance of ‘My Heart Will Go on’ by the queen herself, Celine Dione. Lost, Tunes and I performed Pink Pony Club, of course. We stayed out a bit too late (way past the 9pm Hiker Midnight) and crashed back at our cabin.

Into the Mountains we go

We headed back to the trail the next day to begin our ascent into the big moutains of San Jacinto National Park. I was stoked to get there, because I knew it would be like my Colorado Mountains that I miss dearly! It was gorgeous views but very tough on the legs, as we have been used to very easy rolling hills before this. I didn’t mind! I felt strong and was up for the challenge. One day on top of a beautiful mountain, we had amazing cell service. It happened to be the last day of school at the district I worked in this year, so I decided to facetime them. It was so nice to see some of the kids and teachers again! 

Signing off

I can’t believe how fast 200 miles have come and gone. On the Colorado Trail, my hike was almost halfway done at that point! It’s nice to look back and realize how far I’ve come since that first long distance hike. I am taking it easier, enjoying the small things, and just overall am appreciating each day more. I look forward to seeing how future me is doing in a few hundred miles.