5/16
15 miles (342 Cajon pass at I-15 to mile 357)
We spent the night at a hotel last night and it was so nice. We did laundry, spread out all our gear to dry, and ate all day. We had time to sample all the local eating establishments; mcdonalds for breakfast, del taco for lunch, and subway for dinner. Yes, it was disgusting and yes, I did have a stomach ache.
We read and watched movies, took extraordinarily long showers, and did the dishes in the bathroom sink. Today we slept in, took advantage of the continental breakfast and hiked out half way to the town of wrightwood. We have a resupply box at the post office there, but it's not open until Monday so we are forced to take easy.

5/17
10 miles (mile 357 to 367)
It's 3:30. We have already set up our tent for the night. We slept in, read, and had a 2 hour lunch break. We are camped 2 miles from where the trail intersects with hwy 2. From there we will hitch about 5 miles to the town of wrightwood and eat breakfast! We also have to pick up our food for the next section, throw away the things we are already sick of and visit the store to buy food to replace the food we are getting rid of. Then back to the trail, we gotta make up some miles.

5/18
17 miles (Mile 367 to 384, Blue ridge to little jimmy)
We got up and packed up quickly. We were on the trail by 7 and hiked two miles to hwy 2 to hitch into wrightwood. This road, turns out, has very little traffic. One car passed in half an hour. Luckily a truck came up from town to drop off a few hikers at the trailhead and we got a ride down.
We spent 4 quick hours in wrightwood, a cute little mountain town with a ski resort. First things first, we went out to breakfast.  I ordered the mountain man and cleaned my plate. Then to the post office to pick up our resupply package, hardware store to  drop off unwanted items at the hiker box and buy fuel and new insoles. Then to the grocery store and used book store. Clays is now carrying 4 books!
We were back on the trail by noon. We gained 3000 feet in 4 miles of switchbacks with 5 days of food and it was tough. We went up mount Baden Powell at around 9400 feet and stayed high up on a ridge for most of the day. Hiking through clouds and snow drifts, we stayed cool. It'll be another cold night tonight.

5/19

17 miles (Mile 384, Little jimmy to camp glenwood Boy Scout camp, mile 401)

We bounced back and forth across hwy 2 seven or eight times today. We came across some good finds, someone was leaving treats at the trail/ road intersections. Nacho cheese and Mountain Dew at 10am followed by a pickle out of a trail side jar. We also made a delicious lunch. Corn tortillas with rehydrated hummus and salsa with freshly picked and sautéed morels clay picked! 

Nothing really of note, we went up some hills and then down some hills. We are still up pretty hill in elevation and the temperature has been cool and nights chilly. I had no idea there were such big mountains in Southern California. Looks like we will more or less be descending for the next two days and then will be heading into the desert, I think. I'm sure I'll be longing for the cold mountain wind I have been cursing. 

5/20

26 miles (Boy Scout camp at 401 to a windy ridge at 427)

From where we camped last night to acton, our next resupply, is 44 miles. We want to get there tomorrow so got in some miles today to try to get in mid afternoon tomorrow. Tomorrow it will be a full month that we have been on the trail and clay says it's time to start putting in more miles. Then we did. 

We hiked down out of the forest of firs and pines into a burn area full of thick scrub and dog poodle brush, a stupidly named quickly growing plant than irritates the skin similar to poison oak or ivy. It's dry with long water carries and gusty. 

We have packages waiting for us at the KOA and we hope the campground isn't full of Memorial Day vacationers as there are showers and laundry that I would very much like to utilize.