Anxiety Central

May 27th 2016
Day 3:
            Day 3 has definitely been the most stressful day of all.   Unknowing where the next road we'd encounter to escape the fire closure, we were faced with the decision to continue on with the next water stop being 20 miles away and the fire closure being 30. The current camp, where we slept last evening, did have an address, so we knew we could get a ride out now to avoid the closure.  However, the nearest place to get service was a 3 mile hike up the mountain along the trail. Since we are inexperienced, we decided to follow Moses and Torstan because they seemed it was the best decision. So, the 4 of us we made the ascent.  Finally, reaching the top, we had no idea if Uber even reached this far.  Let's face it, we were literally in the middle of nowhere. After downloading the Uber app, we soon learned that Uber did not reach the address where we were located (of course not).  Just when we didn't know what else to do and we were going to continue on, Torstan pulled out a taxi company service card he received earlier on the trail. So, we gave it a try. Lucky enough, they did agree to come pick us up!

Happy after we got a ride out of the desert

 The problem was that we didn't get service back at the camp where we planned to be picked up. We hiked the 3 miles back to the camp and waited anxiously. He was supposed to be there at 11:45, so at 12:00 Moses walked up to the entrance to the house.  We were back 7 miles on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, I remind you.  When he hadn't showed yet, Lex and I began to pace. We just hiked a wasted 6 miles to try to get a ride out of this place. At 12:30 I was so anxious that I had to walk up. Still no sight.  At this point I was freaking out.  I walked all around the area to try to get service and finally, in one miniscule spot, I got it long enough to call this taxi driver.  Here he had turned around because he couldn't see us!  He didn't even try to come back the dirt road at all! At this point, my anxiety was through the roof.  I hate wasting time and we just hiked 6 miles out of the way to make a phone call. We begged him to turn around to come back and he did, but just as he was turning around another random lady was going up to the boy scout camp 5 miles above us and offered to give us a ride down. Yet another trail angel had presented itself in our time of need.

Trail Angel who gave us a ride down the dirt road

 Incredibly thankful.  It was an hour drive into the next town of Idyllwild. After arriving, Lex and I split a room at the Strawberry Creek inn bed and breakfast.  It was the only thing we could do and it was such a stressful day, not to mention we haven't showered in 3 days. It feels great to lay in this clean bed and not smell my own stench.
       At the end of the day, we were faced with an obstacle and had to make a decision to leave or stay on the trail. In my opinion, this was the best decision for us considering we had no idea where we were going to be able to get another ride out to avoid the forest fire. Also, looking at safety side with the water situation and traveling with these 2 older men, I felt that this was the best decision.
-Thankful for another day with minimal injuries.
Grimmzlybear

Hanging in Idyllwild

Cute Coffee shop in Idyllwild