Day 44 05/08 Familiar Faces

 I wish all readers happy holidays and a very Merry Christmas! Now that my bout with the flu is done, I can get this post up. Like I said, the story must be told, so I'm picking up as best I can where I left off!

...Continued from Day 43 "Deathmarch" ( Posted June)

Mileage: 23.7
Camp: 558.3

I slept three hours and woke up at 6:30am. I hadn't unpacked last night or even taken out my sleeping bag, I crashed right on the trail. I don't think Dan was awake yet. I would have heard him walking by.
I folded up my mat and continued on.
Not even a quarter mile into the day I came to the water source I'd been pushing to last night. There was a little bridge and a concrete shed and the spigot. I got excited. With this much man-made construction, it must be maintained pretty often!
Wrong.

I found the beautifully clean and rust free spigot next to the shed. It was famous for not being turned on this early in the season. I'd heard conflicting reports on whether or not it was.
It wasn't.
I searched around for a lever to turn it on, sometimes there is and you get lucky, but i found nothing but a big padlock keeping me from what i'm pretty sure activated the spigot.
Damn.
I'd be a little thirsty for a few more hours through the desert, but like I always say:
Will I be comfortable?
Probably not.
Will I live?
Yes.
Good thing I did the hot roadwalk at night.

Luckily it was just hot and not sweltering as it was mostly uphill through the dry wind farms. The trail gradually made its way towards a big V cut in the mountains in the distance, the only obvious access point into the next range.
I could care less about the climb, I was ready to get up above the arid desert floor.

Right before it hit the mountains, the trail dropped down into a steep canyon that hid a nice little rushing creek where I sat for a half an hour and took a break. I actually put music on, not through my earbuds but on speaker! It felt so odd to hear music aloud, I hadn't in so long.
I felt victorious knowing that I had finally caught up with Dan and was probably right behind Joe so I took my sweet time and laid out a sign made of rocks signaling Dan that I had been here and the time I came through.
I figured it was probably a waste of time and he would be coming over the top of the canyon any minute. Sure enough as soon as I sat back down on my extended victory break a lonely silhoutte crested the top of the canyon.
Dan the Iceman.:)

I yell up to him and he sees me and waves. The anticipation of seeing my buddy again, or any familiar face kills me as he makes his way down to the little creek. Im trying not to act like im excited, but I am.
He crosses the creek and we shake hands, both wearing big stupid grins. It's a happy reunion. He can't beleive I caught up. I ask about Joe. Dan's not sure where he camped, but I've been on the hunt for a week and been thinking about this all night. I'm pretty sure he camped near this water, he couldn't be more than a couple miles ahead of us.

Turns out he wasn't, but I wouldn't catch him til that night. Dan and I pushed near 24 miles to hitch into Mojave, and I was running on three hours sleep. After convincing my aching, incredulous feet to carry me the last ten miles to the highway, Dan and I stuck out our thumbs. We were ecstatic to have made it well before sundown. Pizza, junk food and Joe were just ahead.

We stood there and watched the cars pass us by. They were few and far between. Soon the sun was going down and we were concerned we weren't gonna get a ride.
Nobody was picking us up.

Joe texts us, he's at the Motel 6, he says he'll see us there. Damn that guy is good! I swear Joe is the master of hitching. After all, he's hitched over 30,000 miles in his lifetime and across the states several times, but he had only barely beat us to the highway! How did he get picked up so quick?

Finally after what seems like eternity we get a ride into town. Dan and I split a room, and Joe comes over.
Im grateful to finally have caught up with them after these insane last two days. Joe is astonished that I did. The feeling I have is an incredible one.
 I can't believe im here in the same room with Joe and Dan again after separating at the Cajon Pass, and even though it had been a dream of mine to hike the San Gabriel's alone, I'm grateful to be back with my buddies. These guys are quickly becoming like brothers to me.
I'm laying in my bed dreaming of rest and my zero tommorrow after 60 miles with a three hour nap when Joe breaks the news that he's leaving the trail.

What?
I knew that he would have to leave the trail eventually, he had mentioned before that he would be leaving twice, once to surprise his wife for their wedding anniversary and once for a family reunion, but so soon?
Right after I fought to catch him, to create the A-team to tackle the Sierra's with Dan and I? This larger than life figure, who had become both an inspiration and a role model was here for this moment but would soon be gone again?

He wouldn't be zeroing with us tommorrow, but instead heading out early to get as far as he could before he had to hitch out and catch a train north to Washington.
We said our goodbyes and Joe went back to his room to sort his resupply and get ready for the morning.

Dan and I weren't ready for bed, we were in a motel 6 :) (might as well have been the Four Seasons, that's how it felt to us) and we had a TV and a plethora of junk food from the store.
I'm pretty sure we left the TV on all night.
It wasn't hard to fall asleep, but one of my favorite phrases kept running through my mind as I drifted off...
The trail never ceases to surprise.
Except this time the surprise wasn't  so good.
How bittersweet...I worked so hard to catch these two only to have to say goodbye again?
At least the Iceman wasn't going anywhere.
He was knocked out in the other bed, still sitting up, drink can in hand. :)