Had the most humorous encounter with a wildlife two nights back. A group of 8 of us decided to hike on another 10 or 11 miles at night from the Mill Creek Fire Station in the Angeles National Forest. There was a 25 mile stretch without guaranteed water ahead of us so we decided we'd try to do most of it at night and the next morning. We cooked dinner at about 4 pm at the station and decided to start hiking at 6 after the sun had cooled. We were getting close to camp and hiking with headlamps on when someone noticed something ahead and shouted a warning. After a few seconds I caught a glimpse of the attacker: a skunk. The skunk caught sight of all 8 of us and knew he had control of the situation. He charged us several times. I wish I had a photo of the 8 of us running from this skunk. It was one of the funniest things I've experienced on this hike yet. Finally the skunk left us alone with no one sprayed. It still makes me laugh.
As another bonus we got to see the lights of LA at night from Mt Gleason (sp?) and walked through the LA county Fire Station complex at dusk. The complex burned down in the 2009 Station Fire so it felt creepy. I half expected zombies to come running out.
Night hiking is awesome by the way. We'll be doing more of it to cross the Mojave desert ahead.
This has been such an amazing experience already. It's been tough but I've met some amazing people. I can't believe I've got 4 more months of this. I wish Gretchen could experience this with me, and I'm excited to see her. It'll be three more weeks, but I feel as if I'll see her tomorrow.
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