Start: 2639.9
Stop: 2654.5
Today’s miles: 14.6
Total PCT miles: 2369.6
I could hear animals crunching around on the leaves last night-making me so thankful for my earplugs. I swear I’d never sleep if I didn’t have them. I did sleep well, and no limbs fell on me throughout the night.
It was a bright and pretty morning and the trail was kind to us. No scrapes or stabs from all of the prickly things. At some point I realized I must have dropped my phone, because when I reached for it to take a picture, it was gone! I had to backtrack for about 10-15 minutes before I found it, face down, right in the middle of the trail! Whew! Could I have gotten any more lucky?
It got hot, fast. We made it to Campo by 11am, and with nothing to really do, we walked down the road to a taco stand and got some early lunch. I demolished some enchiladas, rice, and beans! My goodness it was fantastic. We also went into a gas station for some non-water drinks, and then made our way to the library to hang out for a while. We had a lot of time to kill.
Around 2pm, we made it back to the town center and got some stuff for tonight and tomorrow: two bottles of wine, some cheese and crackers, cups, and some ice cream for now. I actually got an ice cream, too! We hung out at a picnic table outside the little grocery store. Two older gentlemen came up to chit chat with us and we told them all about trail life and how we were “almost done.” Sometimes explaining the filling in of gaps gets too confusing.
We walked to the post office, Marquis sent the hiker their spoon back, and while there, he saw a flyer for a fundraiser dinner at the local Veterans of Foreign War Post in town. We decided to go! We hung out outside until it was time to go in.. then got a beer and fried chicken. Well, chicken, baked beans, and coleslaw. I don’t really like meat on bones, so I picked off what I would eat and Marquis ate the rest.. he let me have the skin off of his chicken too, since I wasn’t really eating much of mine anyway. I wasn’t that impressed, but liked the baked beans though!
We hung out and listened to the lively bunch enjoying the fundraiser-telling some of them about trail life too, and then before sunset we left and walked to CLEEF, an equestrian camp that lets PCT hikers camp. We had our own little pavilion with power all to ourselves! And we decided to cowboy camp for the first time on this trail! It really stresses me out, but we were under the pavilion roof, and Marquis was there-so hopefully if anymore tarantulas showed up to snuggle, they’d pick him!
We ate our cheese and crackers and celebrated with a bottle of wine. Our phones charged, and before we knew it, it was dark. The caretaker drove by to say hi, and we met his dog, Lucy. They were both very sweet.. he unlocked the bathroom for us. Now we’re tucked in and I’m feeling a bit exposed. We’re only a quarter mile from the border, so we keep seeing trucks drive by. I have a feeling it will be an all night kind of thing. But y’all: we’re here! We touch the border in the morning! I can’t believe it!! Goodnight 🙂