Wilderness what? Just show me to McDonald's

May 26-27

Out of Deep Creek, the trail crosses the flood plain of the Mojave River. There's a dam, but no water; the map warned me that Here Be Quicksand, but I didn't see any (like you said, Dan). I always get lost at this point, and I kept this tradition. The trail then wends it's inevitable way across a ridge to manmade Silverwood Lake, which is beautiful but seems weirdly out of place in this hot arid clime. It looks really nice but is infested with aggro dudes on JetSkis. In this way, it creates a perfect microcosm for our entire nation in this summer of 2016.
From the lake, you head up a drainage, onto a ridge... then some stuff happens... there are little hills and things... To be frank, it's hard to keep track of very much, because I was so focused on the goal at the end of my day:
The McDonald's at Cajon Pass.

Such an institution that it has its own sign

McDonalds has a bad reputation, I know. For some reason, we pile derision on it while we swear to ourselves that In 'n' Out is somehow "authentic." Yeah, I like In 'n' Out too, but they are reputed to run a training facility out in the desert that sounds like something out of Going Clear (great book about Scientology, read it right away). And McDonalds, at least the McDonalds at Cajon Pass, is like a Norman Rockwell painting for our times. It is completely racially integrated/diverse, the employees look happy, and my god they even have kale on the menu. No joke. I mean, people were holding the door open for each other. I'm lovin' it.

As to the food? I did not have kale. OK, actually, I did, but only as an afterthought to a Big Mac meal. This is as good a time as any to introduce the notion of Hiker Hunger. (Fellow hikers feel free to let your eyes gloss over.) Long-distance hiking is a sport (or pursuit or time-waste, whatever) that seems to be desigend to burn maximum calories. You just exercise all day at around a 70% pace -- rarely do I strain, but never am I still. I seem to burn around 4,000 calories a day this way. As a practical matter, this can be a drag, because you have to carry all those calories on your back. But it is also like having a superpower: You can eat a lot more than normal without ill effect.

I got into the place around dark, ate a huge amount of junk, and then hiked back out. I wasn't tired by the meal, I was rejuvenated. If I had driven by that Mickey D's and had the same meal, it would have been followed by self-loathing and gut-shaking remorse. As it was, I climbed to the top of a canyon and lay myself down in the tall grass for a night of peaceful rest, awoken only by the coyotes. It's all about context.