Return to the Trail!?

Legasorus, Dona Saufly, and Pocahontas

On the day we returned home, Legasorus got to thinking that just maybe he would like to go back out to the trail. After all, he really wasn't doing as badly as he thought, and he was feeling pretty good. That got me to thinking, maybe I would head back out with him. I too was feeling pretty good again, and we could still manage to pull this off. But after thinking about it, I realized that it would be an awful lot of work to get everything worked out, such as getting all of our boxes back to our resupply person. I had picked up all of our boxes in preparation for resupplying Lego myself, and I would be valuable for resupplying him as I know the trail forward and backward. So I decided to stay home, and enjoy the time to myself.

We were able to get a new credit card issued to Lego, and he prepared to head back. But first he 

wanted to watch the 2011 PCT class video, just to hype himself back up for his return to the trail. 

As the video got to the end, my emotions started welling up, realizing I wasn't going to be accomplishing my dream this year. Lego felt bad, and I really tried to keep from crying, but that just wasn't working. That last night together was a little sad.

Lego flew back to Cajon Pass, and headed back up the trail, still heading north. The hike up into the San Gabriel mountains was steep, but not that bad, the worst part was just trying to dodge the poodle dog bush. This bush grows prolifically after a fire goes through, and contact with it can lead to a severe rash, worse than poison oak. A lot of the trail is so overgrown that a road walk detour is necessary. Of course, the road walk was all uphill. 

As Lego was nearing the top on day two, he found the Acorn trail that led to Wrightwood. He took it, and swore not to come back up that way. It was STEEP. The better route would have been to go to Hwy 2 a few miles ahead, and hitch to Wrightwood from there. So he relaxed some in Wrightwood, the same night that our friends, KOKO and The Bald Guy were also in Wrightwood preparing to head back up to the trail. They never managed to meet there though. 

Lego was able to hitch back to Hwy 2 and scaled Mt. Baden Powell. On really clear days, you can see forever from there, and the oldest trees on earth, the Limber Pines, struggle to hold on as their roots continue to cling to the rock and soil through all kinds of weather. But this day wasn't that clear, so 

Lego hurried on, and found a great campsite at Little Jimmy campground.

The next day, Lego passed the 400 mile marker. Not bad, not bad. Then for some reason, the wind went out of his sails again. He called me as he was sitting off the trail, and announced he was coming home for good. He was very lonely, and couldn't combat that. As he headed downhill through the brush towards the road, I was kept busy setting up a flight back for Legasorus.

He is now officially off the trail for good this year. I guess we are destined to grow old, as we quit hiking. I am having trouble with this concept, I just can't quite come to grips with the death of our dream. I don't want to let go of it yet, we learned so much this time about how we might accomplish this task we have set for ourselves. I have some ideas running around my brain, so I may be back. But it won't be this year.