Day 22 (23 April) - Mile 201.14 - 210.79

Mile 201.14 Campsite to Ziggy and the Bear(trail angels), CA

So, about last night. I will describe it in one word...horrific!  We got to the campsite and it was a bit breeze. This is something  expected in the desert for it to be breezy right around sunset then calms down. Well, last night there was no calm. The wind got worse and worse as the night progressed. So much so that we were awake most of the night wondering if our tent was going to blow away with us in it. At one point I told Tim that we needed to unpitch the tent and find a rock to get behind. At another point Tim said that he quit and was done with the hike. YES...it was that bad. By 7am the wind finally stopped and we, along with all our stuff, was covered by sand. Needless to say, there were lots of complaining all morning, but we shook out the tent and all our gear and headed off to hike down the rest of this mountain. 

For 5 miles we had a view of the town Cabazon that we were aiming for. What is in Cabazon that we were looking forward to?  Just you wait and see!

Cabazon in the far distance. 

We were quite anxious to get to Cabazon, so there was little stopping and taking pictures, but here are a couple:

Day 2 of getting down the mountain. 

Cool new plant seen in the desert today.

We finally made it down and got to look back up at what we just decended. Wow, we were on top of that peak just yesterday.

One last look at Mt. San Jacinto. 

Now we had to walk 5 miles across the desert floor. It was a bit hot and the sand was pretty deep in places making it a hard walk. 

Tim with wind farm behind.

Finally we crossed under Interstate-10 and got a bit of relief in the shade, and of course there was a bit of trail magic there with a cooler of ice water and some cookies. 

Crossing under I-10.

Other hikers enjoying some trail magic and dumping sand out of their shoes. 

Just one mile north of I-10 and we start seeing these signs:

We follow the signs and wind up at Ziggy and the Bear were we spent the rest of the day and tonight hanging with other hikers and feeling some real trail magic from some renowned trail angels.

As soon as we enter the place we are handed a Gatorade and told to sit down and relax in the shade. We are then handed towels for the shower and told that ice cream will be served at 7. This place has everything any thru-hiker needs. Check out this place:

Shady patio to hang out on. With carpeting throughout the outside area. 

Shower house.

And then, one of the other hikers (from Israel) took out his ukulele and started playing. He was really good.

We cooked up some dinner and as promised was given a bowl of ice cream with a homemade cookie in it. What could be better. 

And best if all, we don't have to pitch a tent tonight. We get to sleep under the stars on the carpeted, outside area. 

Sleeping under the stars.