Day 17 (5/14) – 17 miles (130)
I didn’t sleep much at all last night, between the upset stomach, wind, and bright moon. It made the first steps this morning very slow. After a few miles I got back into the groove, only to get sidetracked upon arriving a Mission creek, 5 miles into the day. Triple crowner Buck 30 was waiting there to lure us (Ninja, K-bomb, Moccasin, Sport, and I) to a park a half mile off trail where he cooked us burgers and hot dogs and had an assortment of cold drinks, snacks, and FRESH FRUIT in the shade. We really are getting spoiled here in southern California.

We managed to get moving again by late morning, crossing the knee-deep and swift Mission creek. After a bunch of elevation ups and downs we began following a fork of the creek up into the mountains. While trying to hop across rocks and logs, most of us inevitably ended up with wet feet, not helping our already ailing appendages. We stopped in the shade of actual trees for a blister popping party. Moccasin discovered he’d lost a toenail at some point in the day. A few more miles of following and crossing the creek and we called it a day.