Start: 1733.1
Stop: 1751.4
Today’s miles: 18.3
Total PCT miles: 164.8
Man oh man I slept like a baby in that wind! I didn’t need the earplugs and I kept pressing snooze til 7am.. in the snow I knew I’d need all day long to barely make it ten miles, but if today is anything like yesterday, why rush the wake up when I’m so dang comfy?!
The views were just as pretty this morning as they had been yesterday. Easy trail, no bugs, a little cool temperature wise. I was 4 ish miles away from water, so I sipped on my last half liter and made sure to keep reminding myself to turn at the road crossing to get water! I was slightly concerned I’d be in Heaven walking that I’d forget about the water and just keep on going.
I turned at the road to realize it was like a real, paved road. And the water source was a large lake at the bottom of the hillside at a reservoir. Alrighty then. As I got closer, the water had a weird green hue to it that looked not just dirty, but questionable for other contaminants. Not that I’d have the privilege to care every time water looked odd, but I saw on the app that this same road takes you to a campground in a half mile or so.. maybe more, but seeing that water had me deciding I’d rather fill up from a water hose than filter that mess.
So, I road walked. Cars were flying down that windy two lane road! I made sure to be as far over as possible and no one came close to me, but it was a little unnerving. I missed the woods already! That is, until I got to the Green Springs Campground. They had an open sign on at their cafe and a water refill station like the ones in airports. Even better!
When I sat my stuff down to fill up my water bottles, a waitress asked if I wanted to see a menu. Well now I do! I got an egg and cheese biscuit and a mimosa with zero regrets. I’m doing great at this whole “stick to a budget” thing. Hahaha. The biscuit sandwich hit the spot, the one that wasn’t hungry to begin with, I downed my mimosa and hit the road.
Before I knew it I was passing the signs to Hyatt Lake Resort. Already? Sheesh! It was too early for lunch and I knew if I walked down there I’d have zero impulse control, so I kept walking on the trail. By 1:30, I was actually hungry again, so I sat on some rocks above a pretty little creek to eat lunch. The day was simply beautiful. Blue skies, dotted with puffy white clouds, thick forests and open meadows. I was truly loving every second of it.
After lunch my feet were getting achy. After a few hours of walking along, occasionally climbing over a tree bigger than my car, I ran into Tashina and Romy! The girls from the Netherlands that I had briefly met in all of my filth at Callahans lodge! They were taking a break, resting their feet, so I stopped to talk and do the same. In their 4 days out here (they’re being smart and easing into the mileage since they just began their hike), I’m the first person they’ve seen!
Literally as they’re telling me this, a couple appears out of no where! They are day hikers out exploring, with the goal of hiking the same number of miles as the circumference of earth! That’s pretty dang cool. We all chatted a bit, Tashina and Romy’s accents get quite the attention.. their English is perfect but once you learn they’re from the Netherlands you can’t help but pepper them with questions.
Before we all said our goodbyes, I decided I’d stop at the campground they were aiming for. They wanted to rent a cabin on the lake for the night so I said why not? I’m only here now, maybe I should also get a cabin on the lake and hang out with my new friends for the night. I kept hiking and it was only a couple miles from where we were. My feet were happy I made the choice to want to camp with them, too.. instead of hiking the 5-6 more miles I had originally planned on.
The campground was so pretty. Huge trees and soft ground, little cabins peppered around a lake.. refreshingly beautiful. I walked up to the camp host site, as there wasn’t a soul on the entire property. They had lights on, but no one was home and no vehicle was near the camper. When I took my shoes off and slipped on my crocs, Tashina and Romy appeared. We decided we’d wait around for the hosts and just relax.
We talked and ended up walking the grounds and checking the doors of the cabins and looked out at the lake for almost two hours. No one ever showed! That’s when we decided we’d walk the mile and a half down to the other campground and see if we’d have any luck there. The girls were dead set on getting a shower, they’d been out here for 4 days to my 2 and were ready to feel clean. The other campground also had showers available, but no cabins. Meh, a price we were willing to pay.
We started our walk to the other campground and almost immediately a man on a power line truck stopped us. He was fascinated that we were hikers and insisted on driving us to the campground. Ok, sure. We were close enough as it is. We climbed up on the back of his truck with the big bucket lift thingy and held on to what we could find-thankfully he drove at a snail’s pace to make sure we didn’t tip over. Another pickup truck came up behind us and then gave us such a wide birth it was almost like saying, “if one of you falls out I won’t be the one rolling over you!” Hahaha
The new campground also appeared abandoned at first, but then we spotted other campers. We picked a spot with views of the lake and set up our tents. I pre apologized for my rotisserie chicken sleeping habits, they laughed and said Tashina does the same thing.. I instantly felt better. We ate our dinner at the picnic table, watching the sun slowly dip. Then we all headed down to the shower house.
We plugged our stuff in and they showered, I decided I was a bit too chilly to wet my hair.. I just used hot water from the sink to wipe my legs down and I washed my face.. then called it good enough for now. It was just starting to get dark as we walked back to our tents, and the wind had really picked up strong. I’m laying here watching my tent look like it’s in a turbine and I’m hoping my new poles continue to hold it steady. And with that thought, time to tuck in, get warm, and get some shut eye. Goodnight!