Downbound Train:
Santa Barbara Potrero to Willow Flat
The next morning the sun crept over the ridge and roused us from our slumber. We picked around the potrero a bit and then headed down to the site of the old Sierra Madre guard station, later converted to Santa Barbara Potrero Campground (no longer shown on the maps).
We pulled a few pots of water from Oak Spring and scrubbed up a bit. Afterward we cooked up some breakie in preparation for the toe-pounding miles down the last bit of Sierra Madre and Big Pine/Buckhorn Roads.
And a toe-pounding it was. Even with a pack weight reduced to the point it felt as though all we were carrying was an assortment of cotton balls, the feet took something of a beating. This is not to say of course I didn’t execute the traditional “you wanna ring the bell?” sprint of the last 100 yards and subsequent Rocky dance at the end, but enough of a beating we were glad to load the packs into the truck and head for the Burger Barn for the traditional bleu cheese burger.
And so the Sierra Madre Road — end to end — has been traversed.
The list grows short.
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