Day 24 04/09 Looking in the Mirror

In the morning we left Ziggy and the Bear's, our stomachs full and morale high. Apparently we'd been two of only a handful of hikers that crossed Fuller Ridge this early in the season.
We entered section "c," from the I-10 to the cajon pass, about 133 miles. It was hot and very clear that we were in the desert once again as the stretches between water became further and further.
We passed through the Mesa Wind Farm, in awe of the turbines that towered above us like sentinels and how they'd looked so tiny from eight thousand feet above. The water was irradiated there (Kind of scary) so we had to pack out as much as possible from the Bear's.
It was all uphill from the windfarm into the San Bernardino's. Eventually we came to the whitewater preserve, a really nice picnic area near a creek where families and day hikers come to splash and play. We took a siesta to avoid the midday heat and met this really cool family. The dad and mom were involved with scouting and were really nice but their son blew me away. I found myself wanting to talk to him even more than his parents. He reminded me so much of myself as a kid.
At first he was quiet, then he asked Joe if he was a diabetic. Joe was a little caught off guard, then the kid pointed out Joe's wireless blood sugar monitor and said he had one too, he was also type 1.
He then commented on the brand of my knife that I had- this kid clearly noticed details.
The more I talked to the kid the more intelligence he displayed. He was wise beyond his years and was a thinker. He loved the outdoors-hiking, camping, making a fire from scratch, etc. He took joy from that, which was refreshing compared to so many of the kids today that are glued to a TV screen. What impressed me the most though was to see that he didn't feel sorry for himself at all for being so young and being a diabetic. Joe talked to him about that, and left the kid with the message that it was part of what he was, not WHO he was-I saw it click in his head that if Joe was type 1 and could hike 2600 miles, nothing would ever hold him back. His mom was practically glowing the whole conversation.
We left the preserve motivated and inspired by this kid. I hope he goes places. I'm sure he will.
We made it out of whitewater canyon, only to be greeted with an almost fifteen mile uphill climb in the heat. This part was supposed to be mentally hard and exhausting. Joe read from our map notes.
"Long, hard, hot uphill slog. Bring your big boy pants."
I turned to him.
"I only got the one pair."

We pushed on into the evening and made it through the hottest part of the climb into the San Gorgonio Wilderness. With the sun going down and no obvious good camp for miles, we set up in the bottom a sandy wash off the trail just pass the San Andreas fault. It was the only flat spot around.
The sun set behind San Jacinto, and lit up all the clouds in the sky. Looking at that mountain I couldn't believe we'd come that far on foot. It was hard to comprehend.

Only 2400 miles to go. :)