Start: 1572.1
Stop: 1577.4
Today’s miles: 5.3
Total PCT miles: 1429.6
I was able to sleep through the night, mostly, besides rolling every now and then to change position, and checking out my tent when I did so-to make sure everything inside was still dry. On one side of my tent, the rain was somehow splashing mud onto the mesh of the doors of that side of the vestibule, but it wasn’t too terrible in the grand scheme of things..
I didn’t start packing until 7am. The rain had stopped but the wind had not. It was still pretty dang cold, too. As I packed, Margot did too, but everything she owned was practically soaked. The weather said today would just be windy, no rain-so, my plan was to keep hiking and Margot would get a hitch into town in 5 miles to dry out her gear, and take a day to recover from the last 24 hours. The cold and rain put her in a negative headspace and she was contemplating quitting, although I knew she wouldn’t once she got somewhere warm and dry and could reevaluate everything.
I started hiking, and it was beautiful but cold and windy. Nothing crazy though-just gorgeous mountains with lush greenery covering them, and tons of wild flowers and creek crossings. The mountains reminded me of what I picture Scotland to look like-moody skies and green hills as far as the eye can see.. one day I’ll have to go visit to see if the images I’m conjuring match.
The wind picked up its intensity around 9am, and then a guy that passed me from the other direction said that the ridge line he crossed yesterday and that I would cross today was very sketchy in this bad weather. Cool. Ok, no problem. I keep moving. I pass a big tree and head uphill, only to have the skies open up and rain start to slowly pelt me. Noooo! It wasn’t supposed to rain!
I backtracked to the tree and started pulling out my soaking wet rain gear and putting it on. When I was about to put my pack on, a group of 5 day hikers and their dog came through. They told me the weather was supposed to get only worse today, more off and on rain, storms through the night and all day tomorrow. Seriously?! There goes my plan for hiking through today and getting into Markleeville tomorrow morning *if and only if* the storms are bad tomorrow. I don’t want to be soaking wet and freezing cold for 3 days in a row.
I decided after talking to them that I’d want to bail into town today, too. So once Margot caught up to me, both of us struggling to stay upright in the wind, I told her I’d go to town today too, and zero out of the storms tomorrow. Her mood had shifted dramatically, even before telling her this. It’s amazing what knowing you’ll be warm and dry inside soon does to you, she was no longer talking about quitting at all.
We walked the rest of the way to the volunteer cabin at Carson Pass. They gave us a cold soda and hot water and tea. I was shivering by this point. They let us use a sign to hitchhike with-but we had no luck. When it started raining hard again, we came back inside their cabin. That’s when one of the volunteers pointed out to us that it’s Labor Day weekend. Oh. My. God. I had totally forgot!
So, she pulled out a book of hotel and motel numbers and started calling places for us. Then, some guy came up and offered to drive us to the second closest one, only 7 miles away at Kirkwood Mountain Resort, normally a winter ski resort, but the lodge and store were open during the summer. We thanked him and got into his.. wait for it.. CAMPER VAN that he renovated. As he drove, we talked, I peppered him with questions about his build-and then we realized: this is SAUNTER, the hiker we met in Stehekin forever ago! He just finished his thru hike 4 days ago and was out riding around in his van exploring the area. How cool!
He stopped at a lodge entrance and Margot ran inside to see if they had rooms available. She came back to say they did, so we got our packs and thanked Saunter profusely for the ride, then went inside to check in. We booked for 2 nights and once we had our keys we walked over and unloaded. Margot hopped in the shower, took one so fast that I made her get back in! There’s no way she got warmed up enough that fast! And then I did the same. We spread out our wet stuff and laid on the beds. I had to call and let them know that the heater wasn’t working, so they brought us a space heater.. we had a few issues with breakers tripping, but eventually the maintenance man got it worked out for us. Thankfully, we finally started to thaw.
After we napped and cozied up in the covers, we made the trek to the general store, like a 10 minute walk away. I may have spent $88 dollars there, on 2 slices of pizza, some drinks, food for the microwave in the room, and some chips. I may have also gone back inside and bought another slice of pizza before we walked back to the room. I regret nothing.
Back in the room, we’re just relaxing and watching TV. I’ve been working on my blog a bit, but I’m finding myself distracted easily. Oh well, I’m tired. Haha. Plus, the wind is howling past our balcony, and the sounds are so insane. I’m so glad I’m not out there hiking in this madness. So, with that, I think I’m going to roll over and get some shut eye.