June 6th - North Fork Ranger Station to Agua Dulce

Woke up to partially clear skies this morning. Looked like the worst of the weather was past us. We were hoping for the weather to stay cool though since we were supposedly going through some historically hot, exposed sections.

We felt fairly well-rested after our marathon day the day before. I was still worried about my quad which had given me problems the day before, but at least it felt better than it had the night before. We were excited to finally be headed to Agua Dulce.

Although the trail was for the most part losing elevation, there were a lot of short, steep ups and downs. These steep sections killed my already fatigued quad. I began cursing every stupid up and down. We had to stop several times to have Tom massage my quad. The promise of good food, showers, laundry...awaiting us in Agua Dulce kept me going. Tom was also battling a bad little toe blister. We were quite the pair hobbling along the trail, but miracously we made it the 18 miles to Agua Dulce.

The trail actually goes straight through the little town of Agua Dulce. Our first mandatory stop was the Mexican restaurant in town which we had been dreaming of the past 2 days. Stopped by the general store afterwards - the lady at the check-out counter said we looked good compared to most of the hikers that come through. I hate to think what these other hikers look like cuz we looked pretty battered. I think she was just feeding us a line, but at least that put a smile on our faces.

With fully bellies we headed down the street a mile to the home of the trail angels extraordinaire - Jeff and Donna Saufley (aka Hiker Heaven). We had heard a lot about this place, but it was even better than we could imagine. We knew we were at the right place by all the huge white tents in the backyard. There was a sign at the gate welcoming PCT hikers. As soon as we walked in the gate, we were greeted by several happy, friendly dogs. We knocked on the house door and Jeff introduced himself and gave us a quick run down of Hiker Heaven procedures. The Saufleys have been hosting hikers for many years now and they have things down to a science. There is a large tent full of clean loaner clothes, flip flops, towels, and laundry bags. There garage has been transformed into a mini-post office with resupply boxes newly arrived and outgoing. There are several large tents set up in the backyard with cots as well as a camper and a mobile home available for hikers. Bikes are also available for use to ride to/from town.

We got lucky and got our own room in the mobile home with real beds and sheets/blankets. We felt like we were living in luxury! The mobile home is the main hub here - with 2 computers with internet, a kitchen, bathroom with tub/shower, and a family room with comfy couches/tv/DVD player. This place is so friendly and welcoming - I commented to Donna that we feel like we are staying with family. We quickly saw why people come and don't want to leave. Donna does every hiker's laundry - and some how managed to get smells/stains of our hiking clothes that we hadn't been able to get out with previous washings. I've heard that her secret is washing each load 2 times. She's got some great smelling detergent too - gotta find out what it is!

Tom was finally able to get a much needed shower - not only for his stench, but also to treat some out-of-control poison oak. Yes, that poison oak we thought we escaped at the hot springs several days before wreaked it's ugly head about 2 days ago. Tom got nailed - his back is filled with sores as well as spots on his temple, arms, abdomen, and foot. Luckily I escaped the toxins except for a spot on my ear. We had the special soap (Zenfel) with us on the trail, but the wash requires water/shower which we hadn't had access up until this time.

Crashed about 9pm...exhausted, but content in our home away from home.