June 27:A small hiking world

There was no rush in the morning. After hitting the Post Office and Bakery we begain trying to hitch out of Bridgeport. After about 25 min we got a ride from a guy in the navy heading home after some training. He dropped us at the intersection for the road that winds up to Sonora Pass. After another 20 min three young guys in a pickup squeezed us in the back of their cab. We were back at the trail just after 11:30.

We walked maybe 2 min and noticed a paper sign saying" Sonora Pass cafe, thru-hikers welcome." We walked over to a picnic area to find Hank with loads of fruit, cookies, and choclate cake for hikers. He does trail maintanence every summer and decided a few years ago he would do some trail magic for hikers. We relaxed and enjoyed some goodies along with some great Peete's coffee he brewed up. After this delight we didn't begin walking until after 12:30.

The climb out of Sonora Pass was rather mellow. Our packs felt great after mailing home over 3 lbs of ice axe and bear canister each. On the high point out of the pass we met some weekend backpackers who drilled us with questions for 20 min about our gear and hiking. We enjoyed answering questions for people so genuinely interested, and they were amazed at how small our packs were. They even gave us both a Cliff bar! I love when weekenders pack too much food.

The trail had a bit of snow leaving the highpoint, but soon we were cruising on trail again. The mosquitos were noticably less than the previous few days of trail.

After getting up from a dinner break we planned to walk another hour, but in about 10 min we came across a British couple we had previously met, the Duke and Yankee Clipper. We began chatting about the trail and gear; they made Ray Jardine's 2 person quilt kit and I was impressed. I asked how an English couple living in Scotland hears about the PCT and decides to do it. They replied some American friends they met actually hiked the trail in 2003. I said, "No way, I hiked south in 03 do you know their trail names? I probably crossed them." He couldn't remember their trail names, but could maybe check journals online. Then he mentioned he mentioned something about Paul. I said, "Wait, is it Paul Stonehouse?!"
"Yeah, you know him?" "Yeah he was at the university I went to and, I actually hiked 4 days north with him in 03." I couldn't believe it! I knew Paul was doing PhD work in the UK, but I had lost touch. I was regreting earlier not being able to send them a postcard from the trail. Paul had shared stories about the trail enough that these guys decided to go for it. There were funny things like, in 2005 Jess borrowed Amanda's ice axe for the JMT, and Yankee Clipper had just mailed back the same axe from borrowing it. We chatted until darkness set in and joined their campsite. I'm always amazed what a small hiking world it can be.

Total Miles: 1032.9
Miles Today: 14.6
Camp 61: British Friends

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