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[pct-l] Hikers' Oasis



I was so impressed by Hikers' Oasis at Kamp Anza that I decided to
highlight my recent experience there with a separate post.  I've read
all the hiker journals and postings to this list that describe the good
works of trail angels, but being a city kid, I've always been a little
cynical about asking a stranger for anything.  When I was planning a
late season hike and posted a general request for information about
current status of water sources, Paul Miller stepped right up and
offered to cache water for me at the Anza Jeep Road and Hwy 74, and he
invited me to stop by the Oasis.  After spending a night at the Anza
Jeep Road and guzzling a few quarts Paul's water, something about the
friendly invitation drew me to get up the next morning, leave the trail,
and walk the 5 miles to Kamp Anza.  It wasn't that I needed a layover
day, I just thought I'd take a chance and make my own effort to meet
some quality people I had heard about from others.

The predominant colors in Anza are "dirt" and "sand".  When I arrived at
Kamp Anza, Paul, a very fit 70-something retired man, happened to be
right at the campground entrance with the "Hikermobile", a golf cart he
maintains for the use of tired hikers to get to the showers, laundry, or
move about the campground.  I threw my pack in the back.  As he drove me
past several tired old semi-permanent campground trailers, and a
restroom/shower facility, I saw Hikers' Oasis looming ahead like a
desert mirage.  Pat Ziegler and Paul Miller have a very large lot on
which Pat's vacation home sits apart from the rest of the campground. 
The lot is fenced with a tasteful redwood lattice and screen fence that
keeps the critters away from Paul and Pat's Oasis, a broad expanse of
Kelly green grass and an exotic rose garden and arbor, sheltered from
the sun by deciduous shade trees.  This is the hiker sleeping area; Paul
told me that during the peak thru hiker surge in May '99 as many as 22
hikers were camped out on the lawn.  After two weeks of chaparral and
desert gravel, sleeping on that plush lawn was better than the best bed
in town.  Later Paul showed me a diagram of the rose garden where each
bush is labeled and named, many after favorite hiker guests who have
visited the oasis.

Paul and Pat are trail angels.  That's their full time job; it's what
they do.  They've been doing this for a few years now, but as hiker
connectivity has increased over the last year, more and more hikers are
aware of the oasis, and are taking a layover day or more, some because
they want to, others because they need a respite from early hike overuse
injuries.  I looked through the hiker albums, 3 ring binders with a
short questionaire and a polaroid portrait of each hiker guest.  1998
was a 1 inch binder with perhaps 20 hikers; 1999 is a 3 inch binder with
nearly 70.  Each hiker's page is in one of those plastic page protectors
and most of the protectors also contain post cards, thank you notes and
other momentos the hikers have sent back from the trail.  As Paul showed
me around the oasis he described many of the new projects he had on his
list for the class of 2000, already anticipating a very busy spring.

As I said, I'm a cynical city kid, but Paul and Pat's Hiker Oasis is the
real thing.  They ask nothing and they give whatever the hikers need and
then some.  The campground collects 5 bucks a night for use of the
facilities, and that's it.  They have a web site at
http://www.jps.net/thebear1/ and email access.  Drop them a line; you
won't be sorry.

Happy trails, Tom

p.s. Paul and Pat, thanks again for your hospitality; my layover at the
Oasis was a major highlight, and I'll definitely be back in '00.
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