[pct-l] Trail Magic

[Tim Umstead]

Memorable Trail Magic received:
My wife and I just finished dropping down Fuller Ridge and were trying to
stay out of the sun near the drinking fountain.  It was mid-afternoon and
110 in the shade.  One of the works up Snow Creek drove up and gave us
popcycles. Oh, I longed for some thru-hikers to walk up, so we could be
sitting there, on a blazingly hot day, in the middle of nowhere, eating
popcycles.

The Best Trail Magic we gave:
My family and I drove out to Whitewater to surprise Catwater, as she came
south on her second PCT thru-hike.  Sitting and talking, with her and Puff
Puff we discovered two things
1) she hated coming down Fuller Ridge on her first thru-hike and she was
not looking forward to climbing it the next day.
2) The next day was her birthday and in her mind it was going to be a
terrible birthday.
Thinking about it, after we returned home we got this great idea.  A quick
drive to the store for a styrofoam cooler, ice, a six-pack of assorted
beers, bottles of water, fruit, and sandwiches.  The kids colored the
cooler, wishing Catwater Happy Birthday.
The next morning my wife and I drove to Idyllwild, then on Black Mountain
Road to the PCT, near the top of Fuller Ridge.  We left the cooler where
she would see it and headed home, knowing she would get there in the late
afternoon.
The next day we returned to pick up the cooler and found it empty, with a
note.  Catwater and Puff Puff saw the cooler.  Thinking it was another
empty cooler of trail magic Puff Puff went over to investigate.  Reading
the writing on the outside, she called to Catwater, "It's for you".
Catwater became very emotional, and after looking inside decided that they
did not have to walk to the next water source.  They were camping right
there and have a great Birthday surprise.

If you can get emotional just writing the story, knowing the joy you have
given another person, that is Trail Magic.

One last comment on Trail Magic, it almost always is given to the NoBo.
The SoBo see very very little of it.  They just come across the empties.
It is kinda sad.

The Ravens
PCT 96, 15
CDT 17