PCT day 20 - mile 389 to mile 418

"I got my trail name, because I pulled a tent stake out of the ground no one else could" King (Arthur)

"I hiked with this guy called Kansas Express but we didn't talk for too long" King 
(Kansas Express is doing Triple Crown challenge).

Another big miles day, we woke up at 6am, started hiking shortly after. There was a first closure section of the trail few miles down the road, but luckily it had nothing to do with fire, it was about the frogs. To be precise the rare species of them occupying that stretch of the trail, we decided to take an alternate route around them, which was a little bit longer and was on the road.

Around mile 400 we met the Field Trip family again, they hitchhiked around the closure and overtook us slightly. The path today was much easier than yesterday with more gentle ups and downs and it was definitely a welcome change, as yesterday my shins were trying to abandon the ship. Around midday we hit our first trail magic since Big Bear, it was hosted by three different people at once! Rachel, her boyfriend Chris and ex-PCT hiker Hot Cookie from Los Angeles, we got all sorts of drinks, sweets and savories to choose from, people were sharing their hiking experiences and enjoying this brief moment of respite and human generosity.

We also heard from couple of hikers that Beastmode we met yesterday was pushing forward to the Mill Creek Fire Station, so we decided to go there as well, perhaps join the forces for tomorrow but when we arrived it turned out that he pushed few miles more than expected. We met the guy called King instead whose plan after sleeping for five hours prior was to hike 25 miles at night to the KOA camping resort, which seemed like a fun idea as the night's so far has been bright and warm, you could also spot all sort of wildlife at night you wouldn't be able to see during the day (including tarantulas and scorpions, so definitely not everyone's cup of tea).

We should see King tomorrow as our plan is to wake up early and do the same route to KOA arriving there in the mid afternoon and using some of their facilities before going to Agua Dulce town the following day.

Mill Creek Fire Station turned out to be a good camping spot, not only it has picnic tables and power outlets outside but also a glorious privy toilet I took my sweet time seating on before going to sleep. Bare necessities at its best. Godspeed you the fireguards of Mill Creek!

Trail magic:
mile 400:

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