Date: June 12, 2017
Miles: 0.
Health: Feeling better. Shin feels good enough to walk on.

It's Monday and finally time to start moving again. My shin feels like it has recovered well enough to hike and I can't wait to get back on the trail again.

Crumbs is going with Legend to Kennedy Meadows. Chopsticks, Fyre and I are taking the bus to Lake Isabella, and I'm dropping Poison Ivy and Camp Counselor at the Highway 58 and they're continuing their hike.

I first drop off the girls at the Highway 58 and then drive to Willow Springs road to drop off Crumbs. Once there Legend invites me in and we have a breakfast. Soon we make a change of plans and I'm going to drive Legends truck and trailer to Lake Isabella, and he drives his RV with Crumbs.

As Legend still has few errands to do before we can head out, I drive two sets of hikers back to town. Then we find one hiker to drive Legends truck with me to town so that I can drop off Rachel's truck, pick up Fyre and Chopsticks, and get my gear. As I'm doing this, I see someone waiving at me across the road in town by the bakery and as I slow down I see Poison Ivy and Camp Counselor. What are they doing here? I just drove them to the trailhead earlier in the morning.

The girls tell me they had turned around due to the strong winds and were skipping with us to Lake Isabella. What a great timing! They hop on and I drive back to the house to pick up Fyre and Chopsticks. Then we head back to Willow Springs road trailhead.

After everything is ready we get on the road. I can only drive 45 miles per hour as the breaks on the truck are not the best, and the heavy trailer behind the truck is so heavy.

After a long drive we make it to the Walker Pass, which is the spot where PCT hikers hitch down to Lake Isabella. It's a 37 mile hitch so it's not the easiest.

At Walker Pass we meet Copper Tone again, and few of our trail friends. Otter is there and we find out our timing was perfect as she's celebrating her 21st (I think?) birthday today. We make plans to celebrate once in town

Our celebration is cut short as we're offered a ride to town and we graciously accept. As we're driving down I get a message from Blis that he's staying at the RV park. So that's where we're heading too.

We all get dropped off at the RV park and hobble in to get our spots on the beautiful green grass. It feels so soft! The place is full of our trail buddies so it's great to be here.

It's quite windy and Fyre and I struggle to get our shelters up. It's been way too long since I last pitched my tarp.

Derek and Kelley come over to tell us that everyone is going to the Moose Lodge close-by to watch the NBA finals, drink $6 pitchers, and eat burgers. Soon we're all there enjoying ice cold beer and burgers.

Fyre, Blis, and I stay longer and talk with the owners of the bar about hiking, country music, and traveling. Once we start heading out we're told there's a short cut to the camp but it's dark so we're not quite sure if we're going the right way. On the way I go through a narrow passage and didn't see the barbwire behind me and rip my down jacket open from the back real good. There's a big hole on the back and I can barely hold the down in. In camp Fyre helps me fix the hole with Tenacious tape. Good as new!

We have few more beers on the bonfire and then head to bed. Tomorrow we get back on the trail and I feel so excited.