Sunday May 12th mile 342-352 (10 miles)

Took it easy today to give my ankle a break.  Hung out with other hikers in a patch of grass in front of a gas station, and filled my stomach with bad food.  As a collective, sitting in the grass, the group of hikers all looked much like a refugee camp. I met a few of the more talked about colorful hikers that I had been looking forward to meeting, including a duo collectively called 'the swedes' and individually referred to as Laptop and Feather.  These two Swedes came onto the trail doing very little research and showed up at the border with mountaineering boots(which are not necessary at any point of the trail) and enormous 75+ pound packs.  Laptop was carrying a full size laptop, along with charger and neoprene case.  They were unsure about water availability so they had 17 liters, or over 4 gallons, of water each.  Unsure of food, they both were carrying upwards of 20 days of food supplies. It is only necessary for us to carry around 4 days of food at this point, as the resupply opportunities are frequent.  One of the Swedes collapsed 6 miles into the hike, from the heat and the weight of his pack.  Later in the first day, they set up camp in an enormous field of poison oak.  There were signs surrounding the plant, warning people to avoid the poisonous plant, but the Swedes assumed that they just meant to not ingest it.  A few other hikers went up to them to warn them and they responded with, "We know, we read the sign," much to the chagrin of those who were warning them.  They are great guys, and have obviously made some changes in their gear, but they have still built up quite a reputation.  They are keeping up a good pace, and are both very strong hikers.

I also met a duo who have been deemed "The Wildboys."  They are brothers who are carrying a crossbow with them and spend hours each day setting up traps for animals. So far they have only caught, and eaten, a few snakes.  They walk barefoot on the trail.  Interesting dudes to say the least.

Eventually I pulled away from the crowd and left town towards early evening and hiked into the night to avoid the heat in the surrounding hills.  We were faced with a long, 15 mile climb from 2500 feet up to a ridge at 8500 feet.  I cowboy camped on a logging road, after only 10 miles into the day.  My ankle is feeling much better.