Day 24
Mile 369 to Little Jimmy campground, mile 384 (via Mt Baden Powell), 15 miles
Cost: Camped, free

Cool Breeze, Puff Puff, Lucky & Roxanne left early and the rest of us continued sleeping.

Around 9am, Cuban B, Rowan, PT, Marathon John and myself went for breakfast at the Grizzly cafe. I had a huge plate of French toast with scrambled eggs and bacon and was the only one at the table that didn’t like the idea of maple syrup touching my bacon and eggs!

Breakfast at the Grizzly Cafe

After breakfast I headed over to the post office to retrieve my bounce box. I took out my spare knee brace, new insoles and swapped my injinji sock liners (my two pairs I’d been wearing have holes, but my darn tough outer socks are doing great). I then forwarded my bounce box onto Kennedy Meadows, 300 miles up the trail.

I went back to the cabin to pick up my pack and the guys had organised a ride back to the trail for Marathon John, Rowan, Cuban B, Rattles, Nomad and myself.

Soon after starting on the trail again, Marathon John & I bumped into a lady who we hadn’t met before. We asked if she was a hiker and she told us her husband was hiking and she was his support. It turned out that her husband is Eyeore, the man I camped with on top of San Jacinto in the storm! It was wonderful to meet her and to know that Eyeore was ahead and I might bump into him again.

After a few miles I was on the never-ending switch-back trail up Mt Baden Powell. The view from the top at 9,399 feet was of a sea of clouds as far as the eye could see. It was beautiful.

Nomad, Cuban B, Rattles and Marathon John on top of Mt Baden Powell

On top of Mt Baden Powell

I camped at Little Jimmy campground with more hikers than I’d seen since the beginning of the trail. I met new faces: Zog, Wetdog, Dilly, Dally, Stump and Sarge, as well as Lucky, Cuban B, JBird & Rowan.