*these posts are coming straight from trail, I apologize in advance for typos!

Day 28: May 5, 2025

Location: The Desert
Start: Tentsite – 335.6
End: Wrightwood – 341.9
Miles: 6.3
Ascent: 661 | Descent: 1194
Sleep: Building

What a lovely nero! Truffles and I fell asleep to the sound of rain on the tent, and I was surprised that it continued to rain throughout the night. It was still raining when we woke up! We joked that the area got all of the rain for the month of May in a single night. We were very slow to pack up in hopes that the rain would die down. We finally were on trail around 9am and the rain thankfully subsided.

The rain made me miss home and I was happy to see how vivid and green the landscape was after the rain. The area we were hiking in had lots of shrubs and manzanita and everything took on a deeper shade of green. It sprinkled on an off during our hike, but it wasn’t enough to be cumbersome. I put up my umbrella and hiked on.

The trail was pretty easy with only a few uphill sections. Truffles and I talked during the hike and tried to rank our favorite fast food restaurants. With the rain came the fog and we hiked in and out of clouds all morning.

We finally came to the junction right by the interstate to walk into McDonald’s. There was even an official PCT sign with “McDonald’s 0.4” written on it. We staggered into the bustling restaurant and were greeted by over 20 soggy hikers chowing down on fries and Big Macs.

Hangman and Pinky joined us shortly after arrival. They had spent the night at the Cajon Inn so that Hangman could rest his foot. We all ordered multiple menu items and slowly ate our way into food comas. Pinky had organized a ride and a place to stay with trail angels Dale and Carol, and Dale came to pick us up around 12:30pm.

Dale drove us from McDonald’s to their beautiful home in Wrightwood. He and his wife, Carol, are trail angels in their purest form. They drive multiple shuttles around the area and even host hikers in their home. Apparently the 2024 Bridge fire was close to Wrightwood and closed a large section of the trail, so hikers are having to rely on trail angels to shuttle them around the closures.

Dale and Carol’s home was pristine with a large backyard, patio, and even complete with a coy pond and treehouses! They have finished basement hikers can stay at with multiple rooms and beds. We got to shower, do laundry, and enjoy their hospitality. They live a couple miles outside of town and Carol was kind enough to drive us into town so that we could get dinner.

Since it was Cinco De Mayo we wanted to eat at the Mexican restaurant. We were a little disappointed to learn they weren’t doing anything special for the holiday, but the food was still good and the service was great. We hung out there for several hours talking to some locals and other hikers that filtered in.

Around 8:30pm Dale drove back out to pick us up and take us home. Even when we aren’t on trail it’s hard to stay up late! We watched a little TV before retiring for the evening. I’m lucky enough to get to sleep on a memory foam mattress, I know I’ll sleep good tonight!

Day 29: May 6, 2025

Location: The Desert
Start: Wrightwood – 341.9
End: Wrightwood – 341.9
Miles: 0.0
Sleep: Building

A wonderful and relaxing 0! It felt so good to sleep in and wake up in an actual BED! Carol had coffee ready for us along with a variety of breads and oranges for a light breakfast. I filled up a mug (she even had cream and sugar for us) and went to sit outside on the patio to enjoy a tranquil morning.

Hangman, Pinky, and Truffles slowly made their way out to the patio and we all sat around for a while. Dale came by to see if we needed anything and then he left for a long shuttle drive. We connected with Carol to see what we needed to do to “check out” and she just asked that change the sheets on the bed.

We took our time packing up and trying to tidy up the downstairs area while chit chatting with Carol. Sometime after noon Carol dropped us off in town and we said farewell to a delightful trail angel. Our first stop in Wrightwood was Mountain Hardware to pick up my shoes and bidet that I had overnighted from Amazon. There were tons of other hikers hanging out at the hardware store’s patio and we caught up with Espresso and Dung Beetle. I made a quick trip over to the post office to mail home some stuff, then we set out in the quest for lunch.

We had reunited with Pimento and U-Turn at the hardware store’s patio and the 6 of us went to Evergreen Cafe for lunch. What an adorable restaurant! It was still decorated for Easter and there were hundreds of eggs hanging from the ceiling along with a bunch of owls. I had some delicious fish and chips.

After lunch we headed over to our AirBnB. We made reservations here for 2 nights, so it’s our home away from home. It’s an older house but has everything we need, and the 6 of us all get to sleep in a bed!

We hung out around the house for a while before venturing back out to the grocery store to pick up some things. Another large group of hikers invited us over to their AirBnB for a cookout, so we picked up some stuff to take there.

We walked through town into the residential area en route to their AirBnB. Wrightwood is such a cute town with some adorable houses. We arrived at the cookout around 6:30pm and it was packed with mostly familiar faces. There were between 15-20 people there, all of whom we’d seen on trail at various points.

Shaman was on the grill making hamburgers and hotdogs. I met BF who did the AT in 2923, I really enjoyed talking to her about the differences between the AT and PCT so far. Truffles and j spent a long time talking with Bubbles and Night Bird as well. All in all we had a great evening and I’m so glad we went!

The community feel of this train is definitely different than the AT bust because we have fewer places to congregate. On the AT a bunch of people hang out at hostels and shelters, but on the PCT town seems to be where the bottle neck happens. Unless people get large AirBnBs together, there isn’t really a big communal space like in a hostel. The cookout felt similar to a hostel vibe, so maybe that’s why I liked it so much. Today was a good day with a great ending!

Day 30: May 7, 2025

Location: The Desert
Start: Wrightwood – 341.9
End: Wrightwood – 341.9
Miles: 0.0
Sleep: Building

Another lovely 0! I woke up around 7am and made myself some insta coffee. I www surprised our AirBnB didn’t have coffee, but I heated water in the electric kettle and drank some of our coffee from trail. It was gross to drink black but k still enjoyed sipping on it as I sat on the couch. I spent several hours on my phone working on vlogs, blogs, and trying to be productive with access to WiFi.

Around 10am the rest of the house began to stir. Pimento and U-Turn returned after an early breakfast run, so Hangman, Truffles, Pinky, and I went out for breakfast. Along the way we found Gooey. We all went to the Village Grind where thru hikers get a free cup of coffee. We sat out in the patio to enjoy the sunshine and our coffee before going back to the Evergreen Cafe for brunch.

The cafe was just as cute the second time around. I had a chorizo scramble and it was so good! While we were leaving k got a phone call from Garmin. My InReach was having issues and k contacted cluster service when we got into Wrightwood. I was on the phone for about 15 minutes describing the problem and thankfully they agreed to send me a new InReach! The only issue is that I have to mail my broken one back, so I’ll be without an SOS device for several weeks. Thankfully Hangman has one, so if things go south at least there’s one amongst our group.

After breakfast Truffles and I headed over to the grocery store to resupply. We planned for 4 days of food to get us to Acton. Since we came into Wrightwood earlier than planned we had some food left over, so our total bill for both of us was only $45.

We headed back to the house just in time for our friend, China, to arrive. Earlier in the day I had gotten a text from her saying that she was in LA and asking where we were on trail. We met China on the AT in 2021 and then worked with her as guides in the Smokies last year. She was in LA for the Beyoncé concert and just happened to think of us. She drove to Wrightwood to hang out with us for the afternoon and even brought us a case of beer. We all sat around talking and catching up. China was truly an angel because she agreed to mail my defective InReach back to Garmin. Yay China!

She left around 4pm and Truffles and I began cooking dinner. Our big family dinner in Idyllwild was such a hit we decided to do it again. This time Truffles made a lemon spinach pasta with chicken, it was delicious. We invited Gooey, Late, Stryder, and Pathfinder. Our AirBnB has a lovely sunroom that doubles as a dining room, so we set up in there and had a fantastic meal.

Our evening concluded with trivia at the local brewery. Our team came in 8th place out of 13, which we didn’t think was too bad. We have organized a shuttle with several trail angels tomorrow to get 7 of us back on trail. Leaving town always feels stressful and hectic, so I’m ready to actually be hiking tomorrow.