whatcha gettin' at McDonald's?

Day 19 ~ miles 309 to 329ish

Food is a frequent topic of coversation on the trail, and today was definitely no exception.  Tomorrow, the trail will pass within less than half a mile of a McDonald's.  We don't really eat Mickey D's in normal life, but on the trail, we can make an exception.

All of the hikers that we encountered all day long were talking about the Golden Arches:  are you going? (what kind of question is that?), do you think we can make it in time for breakfast?  dude, we can get breakfast AND lunch!  whatcha gonna order? 

Amidst all the McD's excitement, there was little mention of the lake that we would walk around today.  Our day was about 3/4 of the way done mileage-wise, when we arrived at Silverwood Lake, which we would walk nearly all the way around.  The water was crystal clear and oh-so inviting on this pretty warm day.  Every potential swimming area we passed was occupied, until finally we rounded the bend to see Joker swimming and Kelsey pondering doing the same.  Without hesitation, we threw our packs down to prepare for a swim. The rest of the cabin crew joined us quickly, and we all got in.   Moonshine wore all of his clothes in so he could rinse them out a little.  He was easing in to the super chilly water when he slipped on a rock and fell in.  He looked hilarious, like a (fully clothed) wet dog treading water to pull himself back up onto the rocks.  I eased in much more gracefully.  We guessed that the water was about 60 degrees.  It was cold, but mighty invigorating and refreshing after hiking all day under the desert sun.

We hiked on to a group campsite, complete with a clean and stocked port-o-john, where we are camping with Joker and Kelsey.  Onward to McDonalds!