May 21. Woke up around 6am, still in the clouds. Breakfast in the tent. Left around 730am with Cactass, some of the others still in their tents due to the nasty weather.

There were 16 miles to go to for today, aiming to get to Greenvalley/Casa de Luna.

Casa de Luna is a special place. Together with Hiker Heaven one of the most famous trail angel places in California. Less organized than Hiker Heaven or Scout&Frodo, but very relaxed place. In the back a huge garden, tentsites everywhere. Decorated with hand painted stones, e.g.

What happens in the forest stays in the forest.
Next stone: Except herpes.
Next stone: Expect herpes.
Last stone: Accept herpes.

😂

Taco salad in the evening. I got spanked by the trail angel and host Terry for not fully complying to the dinner table rules. 😂 Later the evening, everyone had to dance for her to receive the PCT Class of 2018 bandana. Holding the bandana felt a bit unreal. I remember it felt like yesterday when Scout&Frodo spoke about the bandana at mile 478 – it sounded so far away.
When taking the mandatory group photo, Terry had a surprise move to ensure smiles on everyone’s face.

What a day… 🤣

May 20

The sky was covered with clouds in the morning. Hiking the first 10 miles to Aqua Dulce / Hiker Heaven took us into the clouds, but the temperature was really nice for hiking. I heard from other hikers that this section was much hotter with temperatures above 100 Fahrenheit/more than 35 degree last year around the same time.
Coming into Vasquez Rocks just before Aqua Dulce/Hiker Heaven.

Aqua Dulce is actually the first community that is located right on the trail – the PCT leads through the small town on the main street.

And again amazingly friendly people welcomed PCT hikers. We were all invited for a Taco Salad lunch in the community center.

After lunch, we were offered rides to the trail angels at Hiker Heaven right in town. It is as professionally organized as Scout and Frodo in San Diego. On arrival, we got a quick tour on all the offerings.

But with just 10 miles hiked, we left Hiker Heaven around 3pm to resupply and make more miles.

The weather kept changing. With the rather cold and wet air, we raced up the mountains to pitch the tents just before darkness at mile 462.

May 11. Got up 5.30am, hit the trail 6.30am. My feet and legs were good. No difference whether I walked 18 or 24 miles the day before. That’s a good feeling. Made it to the 300 miles marker shortly after.

The trail continued to follow the Deep Creek canyon. Saw a beautiful horned lizard.

At 10am, we came to the Deep Creek hot springs at mile 308.

Soaked there for a while, ate strawberry Oreos from the hiker box. Yes, it has become quite natural now to eat food other people left behind. Yes, the Oreos tasted a bit funny, but I am quite sure that was the intended taste for strawberry Oreos. 😂

Watched a squirrel facing a rattlesnake. The squirrel was shrieking louder and louder… The snake retreated.

After the hot springs, the canyon was opening up more and more…

We walked along the dam and stopped for water soon.

A curious snake showed up a few times… It was close to crawling into another hiker’s pack.

Coming out from the protected area behind the dam, the view opened up further and with that a fierce storm caught. At times, I was fully leaning into the wind to be able to move forward. A great feeling – the storm with blue sky and sun in the face.

But that was also slowing is down. We choose to pitch our tents around mile 318. 20 miles today after 24 yesterday. I am very pleased. A lot of other hikers joined us shortly after… Everyone wanted to get out from the wind.