Hello from Agua Dulce

After 450 miles, I made it to "Hiker Heaven." And heaven it is. After some slight miscalculation, I ended up hiking 65 miles over 2 days through the heat and trails overgrown with poodle-dog bush (related to poison oak, but worse) to make it to this makeshift hostel in the middle of nowhere. About 15 years ago, the owners picked up a hiker from the local pizza place and offered them a place to stay. Today, they have rented tents filled with cots, a rented 15 person van to shuttle people to REI, or anyplace else they need to go. They have a small team of volunteers to do everyone's laundry, and let hikers use their bicycles to ride to town (who wants to walk the off-trail mile?) Now that I'm showered and fed, I'm spending the day just relaxing while I wait to reuinte with my college roommate. Just happenstance I received an e-mail from another roommate asking if I would be going to our 15th college reunion. After I got a response from a second roommate with a signature from Southern California, I thought "Hey, I'm in Southern California!" Anyway, should be a lot of fun reminiscing tonight. And this is on the heels of reconnecting with my best friend from high school just a week before the trip. This sentence is an example of a terrible segue. I'm not sure why, but hikers assume trail names. My best guess is that a long-distance hike is so removed from "normal life", that to make the transformation complete, we adopt new names. Usually they come from an attribute of that person ("Hiking Pole" is a Polish hiker) or some quirky thing they did ("Sour Cream" ate sour cream on his granola because he thought it was (funny-tasting) yogurt). I have been happy to help name a couple of fellow hikers. A girl who told me she cries whenever someone is nice to her is now known as "Tears for Beers." And a Japanese hiker who carries a big DSLR camera is now "Shashingka" (Japanese for photographer). I've done a pretty good job of avoiding a trail name like "The Plague". I've been pretty good at avoiding the more innocuous ones as well ("Speedy Gonzolez", "Mr. Rogers", "The Clapper" (or "The Clap" for short), and "Pathfinder". Because of this, I have been christened "Roger Dodger," which I humbly accept. Until I don't any, at which point I may be named "Roger Dodger Dodger." I should be arriving at Kennedy Meadows by June 1, so if you'd like to send me some hiker love, please send it to the following address (and let me know to expect it). ROGER WOLFF c/o KENNEDY MEADOWS GENERAL STORE 96740 BEACH MEADOW RD INYOKERN CA 93527 Hope all is well -Roger Dodger