Twelve miles into today’s hike I came across the last water source for twenty-six miles.
The water source was maybe a 10,000 gallon tank fed by well water. A mysterious man name Mike owns the tank and the surrounding property.
I say mysterious because I never met him, and could only get a vague backstory from the two guys watching the property. Allegedly Mike sells some sort of tortilla related machinery and is always on the road.
The “two guys”, Josh and Tom, let hikers set up camp when they need too, and even have some food and drinks on hand.
Josh lives there full time, and makes the the best pizza for miles (his nearest neighbor is 5 miles away for a sense of scale). The brick oven Josh uses to cook pizza was actually built by a thru-hiker who earns a living as a mason in the real world.
As usual there were old faces and new faces at Mike’s last night.
Maybe 8 of us watched the fire burn out after sunset. And I spent another night cowboy camping (freezing).
Thank you Mike (if you really do exist).
And thank you Josh and Tom (if those are your real names).
In all seriousness, Mike’s is another treasure of the Pacific Crest Trail, and really another gem of a rarely told American story.
Mile 127.
