Day 36 - Walker Pass — Walking People Out of Poverty

May 21

Depart Mile 635.3

Arrive Mile 656.9

Departed camp a little after 6-15 and the first part of the morning was delightful. After yesterday’s big climb it only made sense for the trail to head down and the miles quickly slipped by. By mid morning there was more climbing but nothing in comparison to yesterday. I then hit another glorious downhill section and the scenery was spectacular. Every time I turned a corner I was confronted with wild flowers flowing down the mountain, and the only thing that interrupted their flow was the path dissecting them. The valley was choked with flowers of every hue and variety. I arrived at the Walker Pass campground at around 12-30 pm and I ran into who was getting ready to leave. Einstein had arrived around 90 minutes ahead of me, and although we departed within minutes of each other, at the start of the day, this demonstrates just how faster the younger people can knock off the miles. I had decided today on having one of my pasta dinners for lunch, and then a wrap for dinner. At 1-30 pm, as I was preparing to restart my walk, I looked around and saw a huge black cloud hovering over the mountain behind me. I was headed in the opposite direction but decided to wait a few minutes to see what the weather was going to do. Should I pitch my tent and climb in, just in case the threatening storm arrived? Or should I risk it and push on? Finally, after debating the pros and cons with a couple of hikers it was determined to pitch the tents and have a siesta of sorts. No sooner was my tent pitched than the heavens opened and the rain poured down. It also started to thunder, and the lightning streaked across the sky. Thankfully I was safely ensconced in my tent and after stretching out I managed to grab a short nap. Finally, at around 3-30 pm, the storm had passed and I packed my tent and broke my temporary camp at around 3-50, even though it looked threatening I decided that my chances were greater than earlier in the afternoon. After a short walk I came to a road with a sign giving the history of Walker Pass, and after a history lesson I crossed the road and started to climb the Pass. This was one of those climbs that I really enjoy, as although it’s steep there’s nothing difficult or challenging about it. The hill is long but not too technical and I even caught up to a couple of much younger hikers. I passed them as they were taking a break, and they caught me a little while later when I stopped to take a couple of pictures. The climb up Walker Pass was 1600 feet but it was a lovely climb and I could see the desert disappearing as I entered a new landscape. The two hikers introduced themselves as Bandit, who is in his early 50’s and hails from Singapore, and Atlas, who would be early 30’s and comes from Irvine, California. This was Atlas’s backyard and he was proud to point out some landmarks as we made our way forward. I must tell you a very funny story that happened as I was chatting with Atlas. Bandit was a volunteer who had taken on the job of being a photographer for the PCT organization, and had fallen behind us as he was taking pictures. This allowed me to get to know more about Atlas and the conversation went as follows;

Me: Atlas, do you have a girlfriend?

Atlas: Yes I do.

Me: Great, is she a hiker or not?

Atlas: after a bit of a pause, Yes, I think so.

Me: What? Is she or isn’t she?

Atlas: after a lengthier pause than the first one, stopped in his tracks, turned to me an said Yes, I think she’s pretty damn hot!

I then realized that what Atlas actually heard me say initially was, Great, is she hot?

After explaining myself we had a pretty good laugh and it was good that Atlas had such a terrific sense of humor. A short time later Bandit caught us and we carried on and arrived into camp where the trusty Einstein was awaiting our arrival. We relayed the “Is she hot” story to both Einstein and Bandit, which they also thought was hilarious, and it would not surprise me if Einstein and Atlas use the line with others hikers they come into contact with, such is their senses of humour. it was a lovely evening and we had selected a great campground with terrific views into the valley we would be heading into tomorrow.