Warner Springs to Idyllwild

After a zero day (no hiking) at Monty's, we were back on trail for an 18 miles walk.

It was a nice calm day. 

We actually became a small 3 people gang - Roi, Matt (cheetah) and myself.

Bob (Bilbo), which started hiking the same day we did was on the trail as well. 

Here's a nice pic of the three guys:

We had a relaxed lunch. 18 miles a day suddenly feels like a short day :) 

We went to angel Mike's place (mile 127) to spend the night. We arrived there on the early afternoon, and there were already around 15 people there. It's an old farm house that this guy Mike owns and today some other guy maintain it for the PCT hikers, including serving a dinner.

From the moment we arrived until dark people were kept showing, until there were more than 30 people in the place. Definitely one of the more crowded nights we had. 

This place was so surreal, there was even a garage with piano and drums, old records, 10 old stereos and a billiard table. Of course Roi started playing the piano right away. And another hiker joined him on the drums. It was the best PCT band around :)

We took it slow the next morning, started hiking at around 8:00. 

We had pretty good pace, hiked 10 miles in less than 3 hours. Seeing this fast pace and the hunger made Matt and us try to walk those 25 miles to a place called Paradise Cafe, having one of the place's famous burgers for dinner. 

We had 6 hours to complete 15 miles otherwise the place will be closed. The big march began! Walking and walking with very few stops on the way. We convinced Blake to join the challenge. 

7 miles before the end we had the nicest surprise on the trail - a picnic table with hiker box including a lot of good treats and a cooler box with soft drinks and fruits! Yummy!!!

By 5:30 we were at the highway. We made it!

The burgers at Paradise Cafe were awesome :) 

We called Mikeal from the trail and he came to meet us at the cafe and took us to his place afterwards. 

He lives in Anza and has a beautiful place where he grows garlic and other stuff.

He let us sleep in his guest room which is kind of a separate unit with a bathroom. I had the best shower since we got to the US :) 

On the morning he let us do our laundry and made us a great Mexican style breakfast.

Mikeal is not an official trail angel, but he was definitely our angel :) 

Later he gave us a ride to Idyllwild, where we had 2 zeros days.

The luxury continued also in Idyllwild, where we shared a fancy cabin with Matt and Blake. 

I had my first blister treatment later that day (that's the only blister i have so far from the trail...).

In the morning we went to the grocery store and made a breakfast in the cabin's kitchen. It was the best bacon cheese and egg sandwich ever !!! And we also had a fresh Israeli style salad.

Later that day Idan joined us (the Israeli guy which started a day after us).

Soon we're going to buy steaks for dinner and start preparing a big dinner.

Tomorrow we'll be back on trail.