Day 2 - 3: How to achieve fame

Legend drops me off on the road that leads to the spot where I was picked up yesterday. I walk down the road for about a mile and get back on the trail. With my headlamp on, I begin the ascent to Lake Morena. There's a store there where I want to buy some things and it's known for its good breakfast burritos. I expect to arrive there just before seven and have to wait a little until it opens. Suddenly, I hear someone calling. I turn a corner of the trail and there's a hiker lying in the middle of the path. He's wearing heavy hiking boots and leaning against a huge backpack. His name is Michael, he's out of water and has been hiking all night. He's completely exhausted. I give him as much of my water as I can spare and we start the ascent together. Michael needs to take breaks constantly. The next reliable water source is Lake Morena and it's still three and a half miles away. But Michael has heard that there's a water cache at mile 17. So I run ahead to check and get water. Unfortunately, I turn around just before the cache because I don't expect it to be there yet. I can convince Michael to switch backpacks with me. I clumsily put his backpack on my back and almost lose balance. It weighs 25kg, contains food for 7 days and no water. After that, we make slightly better progress. After two hours, we finally reach the cache. I take a short rest with Michael and once I'm sure he will recover with the water, I head to Lake Morena. I arrive there just before nine, do my shopping, and get a really fantastic burrito.

After a while, Barry arrives at the store. I got the filter from him. He is surprised and happy to see me, as everyone else has heard about what happened to me yesterday. And apparently, Michael tells everyone who passes by that I helped him.

Shortly after, two hikers arrive and ask Barry if he's the 'famous one', and he just points at me. It seems that I have gained a certain level of fame within the bubble of hikers I'm currently with, as the guy who had a heat stroke, returned to the trail the next day, and saved another hiker's life. Which is definitely blown out of proportion. The trail today is very beautiful and pleasant to walk. However, I stop early at Boulder Oak Campground to spend the night here with some other hikers. Eventually, the conversation turns to Michael, and when I tell them that I was the one who helped him, a hiker I hadn't met before asks me, 'Oh so you are Niklas?' I'm still not sure what to make of my current fame and I hope it doesn't last too long.

Now I'm at Pine House Café in Mount Laguna on Day 3, eating burgers with some other hikers. So far, the day is going great. We'll spend most of the day here and make a few miles in the late afternoon. Until then.