Awoke to rain on my tent this morning. I packed everything up under my rain fly, glad that my tent can be packed up from the inside. I got on the trail at about 8:30 am, a little later than what I have been lately. As usual, I headed a mile or so up the trail before stopping for breakfast.

The trail climbed steadily all morning, and it looked like the whole day would be spent climbing. The clouds were low around the mountains and I knew that soon I would be going up into them.

As the trail climbed into the clouds, the vegetation once again changed to hardy alpine scrub. The mountainside here was also littered with huge boulders which stood out among the green leaves and shrubs.

For a couple of hours the trail flattened off and I was able to enjoy the scenery in the mist. There were huge rock gardens, and rock formations, some of which looked like pretty cool campsites.

The trail climbed a little further, and I saw a sign pointing to the infamous Mike’s Place. I’ve seen and read a lot about this point on the trail. Apparently it was once a legendary destination for PCT hikers to rest, party, hang out and meet other groups of hikers. By now groups have often started to form on the trail, but many have not yet had the chance to solidify theirs.

I’d also heard that in recent years, there hasn’t been much caretaker presence, at Mike’s or anyone really. The effect of that has been that hikers would come here, see the remnants of what once was and then leave wondering whatever happened.

I arrived expecting the same thing, but when I got there, I saw a fire going in a wood fired pizza oven, and a couple of people sheltering under a shed. As soon as I got my pack off, I was handed a smoking hot, freshly grilled tortilla with rice cheese and sausage.

I spend the afternoon hanging around the warmth of the pizza oven, and gradually more hikers showed up. In the end there were 8-10 here and we were given hot pizza, fried rice, tortillas and ice cream. I think Mike’s Place might be on track to becoming the place it once was for hikers to gather and have a good time in the mountains of the desert.