April 25 -- An exceptional day

Despite the cold, I slept reasonably well. I didn't particularly want to get out of my sleeping bag, but I told four hikers that I would drive them 20 miles up the road to where they had left the trail to join the kickoff. I had met them at Scout's and Frodo's, and was happy to shuttle them around. However, when I went to start the car, the battery was dead. Oy. Fortunately, there were hundreds of people there, some with cars, so I managed to locate someone with jumper cables and got my car started.

As we left the campground and drove up into the mountains, we began to encounter snow on the ground around 4000 feet. At 5000+ feet, there was a 1-2" coating on the ground. It was strange to see snow in the desert, but there it was. I dropped of Elderly Ellen and her husband, Yeahbut, as well as Pete and Lani, a father/daughter team. Lani had shaved her head at the kickoff and donated her hair. I imagine her head will be cold, even with a hat.

I drove through the mountains for awhile, stopping periodically to take photos, then re-connected with the interstate and headed back to Jan's house in San Diego. Jan had invited me to an all-girls luncheon. Included at the luncheon were Frodo; June Mulford, the woman who gave the slide-show presentation about her horseback ride along the trail; one of Frodo's and Jan's neighbors, who also hosts hikers; a past thru-hiker who is now a Yale master's student and who will be thru-hiking the Continental Divide Trail this summer; and a woman who thru-hiked the PCT last year, whose journal I read religiously last year. It was a truly wonderful experience talking with these women. I enjoyed it immensely.

After lunch, I exchanged my car for another (hopefully with a better battery), so I can set out tomorrow on my National Park journey. I might be out of touch for awhile, unless I have better cell service than I think I will. Stay tuned, my friends.