Date: 2018-08-27
From: Mile 1969.7

To: Redington Campsite
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: scattered clouds

We were not in a hurry to get moving in the morning. The IGA opened at 7am, but who goes grocery shopping at 7am? Nobody. I was already going to stick out like a sore thumb. I didn¢t need to be the lone shopper smelling up the supermarket. From the road crossing, the IGA was about nine miles. A hostel .3 down the road offered shuttles, but I really doubted that they did an early morning run. I couldn¢t even call to ask because they are off the grid and only check voice mail when they go to town. So, my options were to go knocking on their door to ask, or stick out my thumb and try to hitch.¢We will try this first and see what happens.¢ I told Cole, hanging my thumb in the west bound lane. The first car that came by stopped for us. The radio wasn¢t playing but I could see the names of the songs cued on the screen. They were Christian songs.¢I don¢t normally pick up hikers, but something told me to stop for you guys.¢ She said.She dropped us off at the IGA and Cole stayed outside with our bags while I went inside to shop. They had some already prepared foods available, so in addition to our resupply items, I bought us second breakfast )bacon, egg and cheese on an English muffin), a healthy mid morning snack (bananas), and first lunch (egg salad sandwiches). There was a picnic table at the side of the building and we hung out there for a long time, eating and sorting our food bags. Eventually it was time to head back to the trail.It took less than five minutes to get a hitch. It was another lady. She said that she likes to pick up hikers and hear their stories, but she always picks them up when they are headed out of town, not going into town.Coming from town they have showered and done laundry. ¢I have to apologize then,¢ I said, ¢because we did neither. We just bought food.¢¢I don¢t smell you.¢ She commented.The woman who had brought us to the IGA had turn her air conditioning on full blast and cracked her window. We definitely smelled bad. Before we hitched back to the trail I had put on my fleece to act as an odour barrier. I guess it was working.¢ There is a joke around town¢ the woman said, ¢that all you have to do to find a hiker is to go to the IGA and sniff.¢It was a steep steep climb up Saddleback mountain but the views were spectacular. Perhaps even my favourite view yet, but I¢ve seen so many I can¢t remember them all. And therein lies the problem. After doing so much work to get here, I wanted to remember. I took photos. I took video. I posted on social media and sent pictures to my husband. All these were an attempt to hold onto and share what I¢d never be able to keep or adequately pass on. This exact moment. This beauty. This peace. I wanted to sit on that mountain forever....or at least for a long long time, but eventually we had to move on. The view changed as we traversed the mountain above treeline. At one point we had a 360 degree view of mountains all around us.¢Well, that one that we just walked over is in the way,¢ Cole said.¢In the way of what?¢ I asked. ¢The view.¢¢So the mountain is in the way of the view of the mountains.¢¢Yes.¢Getting down from Saddleback was tricky and slow. We decided to stop at a campsite and tackle Saddleback junior tomorrow on fresh legs. We didn¢t get very far today, but hopefully Saddleback Mountain stays for a long time in our memories.