4th May 2025

Motel 6 lived up to its reputation. The walls were paper thin and at 3am we got to enjoy waking to the drunken antics of next door coming home from their night out. We also found handcuffs in the pool and a questionable stain in the bathroom. But all was well because we had coffee and leftover pizza for breakfast. 

We headed back to Drizzle and Chapstick’s room, picking up Road-Rash on the way. Heavyweight had also rejoined the group after some antics of his own. We headed to a popular bar in downtown Palm Springs standing out in our hiker attire against the cat eyed sunglasses and kitten heels of the brunch goers. I ordered coffee and we sat by the fountain waiting for a ride. 

The others would be returning to trail, meanwhile Dan and I would continue on to Banning to pick up our resupply box which was due to arrive the next day. We said goodbye knowing we would catch up with them before long. The plan was to stay at Nitsy’s, a trail angel who offers beds to hikers. Nitsy’s back garden has been transformed into a hybrid of garden and hostel. Three partially open rooms has been created from timber. Sweet smelling jasmine and curtains substituting for walls to give some privacy. In our room an actual double bed with blankets pilled high took centre stage. 

We did washing, enjoyed a soda and some food from the communal cooking area before sitting down and resting. There were two others there and we discussed the storm and the upcoming difficult section of trail: Mission Creek. Nitsy lent us pyjamas for the night and I changed into them just as the storm began hitting. Heavy rain came down noisily bouncing off the tin roof. Nitsy served spaghetti which we helped ourselves to before finishing with some ice cream. 

It was a very relaxing day and we are thankful for this refuge. One hiker who had just came down from the trail said he had faced snow, rain and the onslaught of wind on his decent, confirming that we made the right decision to avoid altitude as the storm hit.