14 miles – (Julian) Scissors Crossing to 3rd Gate @ PCT mile 91.3

Gene Kelly is serenading me about singing in the rain while I sit, sipping my English Breakfast, in a reclining chair with lions on each armrest, in front of a crackling fire.
Not a dream, but the Julian Hotel in the gorgeous town of Julian 13 miles off the PCT.

I had a bit of a fitful sleep, but the bed was amazing and I was giddy with excitement about getting to sleep on my side! (My sleeping pad isn’t condusive to comfortable side sleep).

I wander about town, confirm that the free pie shop does not have vegan pie 🙁 , buy a spinach wrap to take out with me, stock up on food at the grocery ,  find out that there IS a vegan pie but they aren’t making any today (whaaaat??? :'(:'(:'(), post a couple of postcards and find a hitch out of town.
My second go at hitching takes a bit longer. We get a lot of shrugs and smiles our way, and finally get picked up by a Julian local about 1/2 hour later. Yay hitching and not dying again!!!

Back at scissors crossing there is more trail magic!!! Today they have left PB & J sandwiches. We don’t want to be greedy so split half a sandwich between 2 of us. It is quite ridiculous the amount of excitement generated by pb&j sandwich!

The climb back up into the mountains looks horrendous from the road, but actually goes really quickly. It’s hot and blustery today so we weave around and around, almost getting knocked off the mountain several times. Three out of the five of us hiking together today ( Steve, Bouncer, Derek and David) see snakes. I’m glad I don’t as it’s really windy so it would be hard to hear the rattle, plus there are some very steep corners so snakes can easily sneak up!

The PCT likes random gates. There are lots of big pipe gates, some with fences attached, a lot with none. We pass through a few today and the destination is the third gate cache. At the third gate there is a well stocked cache of water for us to drink left by more awesome angels.

It’s a windy windy day and although we only do about 14 miles its late by the time I arrive and I have to hunt around for rocks to put on my tent pegs to make sure it stays put. I make some mountain house pad thai, which takes a stupid amount of time to be ready.
Finally I am serenaded to sleep by the whap whap whapping of the rain fly of my tent.

Today’s Random Song In My Head:
So fresh and so clean (while getting dressed and packing away my freshly laundered clothes this morning).