Day 12 : Paradise Cafe

1st May 2013
Mile 145 to mile 161 : missed campsite to windy campsite
Mileage : 16 + 1.5
Today was all about the Paradise Cafe located on Highway 74 at mile 152. Owing to the fact that i was sleeping in a gully the sun didn't reach me til after my usual waking hour of 6ish so i was late off the blocks in hitting the trail. It didn't really matter though, by 10am i had made it to the road and even got a hitch in the owner's pickup almost as soon as  i stepped onto the road. One Mother Lode burger and a milkshake later i was feeling very good indeed. My various ailments and injuries were being kept at bay and my food situation was  looking good as i found a homemade beef, corn and lentil stew with hot peppers in the hiker box, winner. At 3:30 i headed back to the trail, no hitch this time you can't have everything. Highway 74 seemed to be a sort of border between the desert i had been walking through for the previous few days, and the San Jacinto mountains in front of me. Catus on one side, pine trees on the other, and it suited me just fine. A few hours later saw me at a campsite on a saddle at mile 161. I sat down and started my evening routine, and almost had to put my sad face on as it appeared my glasses weren't in my bag. I have 2 pairs; 1 normal pair and 1 prescription sunglasses pair. It was the normal pair that i thought i'd left at bar of the cafe all those miles ago. I was at the point if putting my rucksack back on my back and head back the mountain when my electronics bag fell out and with it my glasses, phew. Minor catastrophe averted. In celebration of not losing anything i feasted ornament the food i had left knowing Idyllwild and resupply were only a day away. I was in bed well before hiker midnight and fell promptly to sleep. It did not unfortunately. Around actual midnight i was woke up by the wind. I learned later it was gusting over 70mph in the valley below, i have no idea how strong it was up at my elevated campsite but sleep was elusive for the rest of the night because of it. I crossed my fingers.and hoped it would blow itself out by morning.

Burger and a milkshake at Paradise, life is good

The views begin during the first climbs out of Paradise