Poplar Ridge Lean-to

Day 147, Wednesday, 8/10 – It rained again all night. I woke up at 6:00am, packed up, and hiked out in the rain with Birthday. We hiked 5 miles, and got to The Hiker Hut at 9:15am. We were hoping they would have some hot food, but felt that that was wishful thinking. When we got there, we were greeted by Mary. She offered to make both of us egg sandwiches and hot coffee. What a treat. We made ourselves comfortable on the porch and took our shoes off.

Aqua, Genie, and Splitzy rolled in not too long after Birthday and I arrived. Genie had been to The Hiker Hut on his 2013 thru hike and reminisced with the owner Steve. I ended up getting 3 egg sandwiches in the 2.5 hour break. Genie foraged some chicken-of-the-woods mushrooms and grilled them up in the kitchen. We also all topped off our food bags in their hiker pantry.

It was rainy all morning, and the trail was going to take us above 4,000ft as well as above tree line. We waited until noon hoping that the weather would clear up. The rain stopped at noon, so we hiked out. I loved our time spent at The Hiker Hut. I wish the timing would have worked out for us to stay there.

We climbed 3 mountains today: Saddleback Mountain, The Horn, and Saddleback Junior. The climbs weren’t terrible, but the descents were all a bit sketchy. There were steep parts that required scrambling, and the rock was wet from the rain.

Initially, the views were completely socked in. Periodically, the clouds would part, and we would be rewarded with fantasist views.