Cabazon to whitewater preserve - 5ish miles

Total - 218.5

Woke up this morning in a nice COMFY queen bed. Still woke up around 5:40am but I felt goooooddd. Took our time in the morning to pack up plus Nitsy the trail angel cooked us breakfast of French toast and sausage. I think I ate mine in 4 bites as I was starving. Had three bananas, cantaloupe, the breakfast, a couple bars and I was still thinking about something else I could eat. Hiker hunger has hit. Nitsy is a character though and she iconic for it. She was telling us stories how the rooster next door won’t shut up so she bought a sling shot to make it shut up but she would miss so she had to practice. Now she’s upgraded to a BB gun. Her neighbor also is a peeper so she covered his bench in honey per her friends wisdom. Scotty asked if he could smoke weed and her response was “only if I get a hit.” She also had a food inspector investigate her little set up which is totally illegal in California but she doesn’t think it is. She feeds people so she needs a permit which she doesn’t have. Absolute legend if ya ask me. She then drove us to the start of the trail in her old white pct trail angel truck which consisted of mark and I sitting on two lawn chairs in the bed of the trunk while Scotty and Caleb sat in the actual car seats. She was ripping down the highway too which was insane and now looking back at it totally unsafe. Once we started walking I felt so slow and just uncomfy. My bag weighed in around 33 pounds with 5 days worth of food and 2.5 liters of water. It just felt like a slog and every other half mile something new was hurting. My hip was tingling but that went away and then my back started hurting but then that went away and then my knee started hurting. It was just kinda miserable for only 6 miles of walking. Then it started to rain for the first time on trail which was great as it got us out of the sun but it was a constant drizzle so I was kinda soaked from a lil bit of rain. The view into white water preserve was crazy as it had been washed out from a hurricane or whatever they call it on the west coast. Looked like glacier has just wrecked the place but it was a hurricane instead. The preserve feels like a little oasis which was kinda wild as it had three ponds (one for soaking feet) and a lot of wildlife and greenery. It was still raining so we cooped up under the picnic shelter for awhile and in between rain showers we set up a tent. My morale was low I can’t lie and I was letting everyone know. Something about today just kinda sucked. But then I took an hour nap with the sun out which was hitting my tent and making me so warm and rosy cheeked. Such a good feeling. After I felt way better. We then took a lil walk around and set up dinner. Wish I brought more candy honestly. I then decided I wanted to head to bed and as I was headed to the bathrooms I see Christian the German!!!! We had planned a schedule for San Jacinto which I quickly deviated from for the package so we hadn’t see him for like three days. He put in a 25 mile day and skipped cabazon which then led him to us again. As we were talking then “the bard” pulls up in an uber. It felt like a family reunion honestly. Apparently Sam Jacinto was just getting railed with high winds and rain and probably snow. People were staying in idyllwild to wait out the storm so technically moving faster for my package was the smart move after all. It was cool to reunite with some of the people we had been hiking with. Boosted morale for sure. Currently it is still drizzling but it sounds so nice on the tent. I will probably be cursing it tomorrow around 6am when I have to pack it wet. This next section is going to be a slog as it’s the only section of the desert I’m truly worried about as a woman got rescued from this area a couple weeks ago. But as a group we should be fine. Plus we booked another Airbnb in big bear lake with a JACUZZI. That’s getting me through the next couple of days for sure. Overall emotional day, still trying to get through a day where one part of my body doesn’t hurt or make me worried that I’m injured and take me off trail.

There’s also like 25 hikers staying here tonight. It’s like $30,000 worth of gear in just this one area. I could buy a car with that if I stole everyone’s stuff and sold it online.