Mile 37.7 to 56 stealth camp near boulder field

Last night I cowboy camped, which means I slept under the stars with no tent. The winds were strong so I figured I would get better sleep without my tent flapping around. I was right! I was also lucky enough to wake up around 2 AM and see the big dipper handing right above me.

One of the main drawbacks of cowboy camping is if it starts to rain during the night. Even though the stars were out, some clouds rolled in around 4ish and I awoke to some light mist on my face. In a half-awake state, I decided that it probably wouldn’t change to rain. I was right.
I awoke to the sun rising and some nice color before I packed up and made the short 3 mile hike to Mt. Laguna. There isn’t much there except an outfitter, cafe, and lodge with a small “grocery” store. I resupplied so I can get to Warner Springs, which should take about 4 days.

A nutritionist would hate my diet. It’s full of poptarts, snickers, ramen and worse. But it should give me enough calories to replace what I am burning.

The hiking was mostly among the mountains with precipitous views to the desert floor thousands of feet below. I was walking through Anza Borrego Desert State Park. The trail was meandering left and right, up and down along ridges and over saddles. The winds were fierce blowing up to 30-40 miles in places. I though my hat would take my head off with it!

I also came upon a scene that made me do a double take around mile 53. I was coming around a bend and looking out toward the desert floor when I saw a drive up overlook with a Harley Davidson crashed over the curb, a few feet from the guardrail and a few thousand foot drop! There was a man in his 70s looking dazed and confused. “Everything alright,” I ask. “Yes” comes the reply. I keep walking and then the man asks me, “Are you strong?”

I proceed to help the man push that beast of a bike up, which took all my strength. He straddles it, but the tires are on opposite sides of the high curb. I’m still supporting it and trying to push and pull it over when Hobo and Caddy come walking up. It must have been quite the sight, especially sense we were in the middle of nowhere.

We all manage to pull the front wheel over the curb. The man said a bug hit him in the eye and he couldn’t see or stop. Funny thing was not 400 yards back on the trail there was a Harley Davidson memorial to a ridder in one of the rocks. I told the man this, and said I am glad we didn’t have to add his name to it.

That little story is how I got the trail name Harley bestowed upon me by Hobo and Caddy.

I camped with Kim, Burnout, and Boldazore (?) in a nice stealth spot. They are really nice and we all chatted during our nightly stretch. Fun times!

Wildlife: Horne toad, lizards, pink and black stripped moth, lots of birds, and a few rabbits.