Author: Courtney

Start: 1577.4

Stop: 1594.7

Today’s miles: 17.3

Total PCT miles: 1446.9

I damn sure did not want to wake up this morning, but once I did I realized how hot I was-I was literally sweating so much my shirt and my hair were stuck to me. I guess I got over that chill I had the last couple days. I went to pee and then had to stand outside on the balcony until I started to shiver. That room was a sauna.

I came back in and started packing. Mostly done, all but my tent packed, I went to stand outside again, and Margot said I could just leave the door open for a bit because she was hot, too. Thank GOD. When I had looked at the thermostat, it had read 76 degrees. There has never in my life been a reason to have a room that hot before. I’ve refused to spend the night at friend’s houses over them keeping the temperature on 74. Yikes.

Finally, it started to cool off some and I could breathe again. I finished packing and I ate a burrito bowl thing I still had in the mini fridge.It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible either. Once we were all set, we checked out of the room and walked to the general store for coffees. I also got a breakfast sandwich there. If I had known they sold them, I probably wouldn’t have eaten that other frozen thing-probably.

We made our way down to the end of the resort road to the main highway road. At that intersection, Margot pulled out her sign and I stuck my thumb out at the first vehicle coming towards us-and-they stopped. Two guys out fishing fit us in the backseat of their pickup and took us to Carson Pass! They were so nice, asking about the trail and all we’ve seen and gone through. They were wonderful!

At Carson Pass, we talked with the same volunteers from Saturday. They are complete angels. The one said, “I don’t want you to think I thought you looked unhappy Saturday, but you two seem so much happier today.” Gosh, they’re nice. We told them about the resort and how it refreshed us. They told us the weather for the next week or so should be fantastic, though cooler at night since the seasons are changing. We said our goodbyes and started down the trail.

There were tons of day hikers and weekend backpackers, lots of folks with cute dogs. Gazelle passed us at one point, and we met Rainbow, a guy in his tramily that wears a rainbow tutu.. super fun and happy guy. The trail was gorgeous, maybe even on the level of Washington for me in the way of views and huge vistas with nothing but more beauty to see as far as the eye could go.

There were tons of lakes in the distance and rocks.. and even some snow to cross.. although it was one patch of maybe 50-75 feet, and at an angle that wouldn’t be dangerous if you slipped.
I was loving the views so much, that I almost didn’t even stop for lunch. Actually I probably wouldn’t have if Margot hadn’t caught up to me and asked. I was glad she asked then, at such a scenic overlook.. because whatever I was or wasn’t doing, food or no food, I didn’t want to leave yet.

After we ate, we continued on. The trail climbed upwards but the views were so magnificent on this ridgeline, that I hardly even noticed. I mean I was of course breathing hard, but I didn’t mind the work to get to the tops of the climbs..I was just staring around in amazement, so happy I didn’t do this section in pouring rain and clouds-obscuring my views.

We got to where we were going to camp and filtered water.. then decided to hike a little over a mile more, since it was only 5:30. The spot we settled on is in the “corner” valley of a climb between two mountains-I was shocked there was spots at all, but we’re both pretty comfortable here. We set up our tents and ate our dinners outside.

It’s beautiful and chilly. I’m glad we’re farther up this climb than we could have been a mile back. That should make tomorrow a little easier in the morning. I’m so far behind my goal as far as getting to certain towns by certain dates, but safety comes first, and being hypothermic for 3 nights while climbing these climbs in rain would have been disastrous. Nothing made that more clear than hiking it today in all its pristine beauty. If this trail does nothing, it humbles you.

Ok, time for me to get some sleep. Well, ok, time to ball up in my quilt and get my hands warm. I can’t wait to see what views I get to see tomorrow! Goodnight y’all!

When I woke up to the skies being light outside our closed blinds windows, I was mad. I just knew it was pretty out there and we booked this room for nothing!

Then, Margot opened the blinds and it was absolutely down pouring out there. So much so, that we decided to not go outside, to either the general store or the mile walk to the restaurant. It was coming down in sheets! I was suddenly very grateful for the amount of random food I bought from the store yesterday. Once my Synthroid settled for its allotted hour-I ate a microwaveable breakfast burrito. Was it great? No. Did I care? No.

We watched TV and laid around. Sometime in the afternoon the rain seemed to stop so we ventured out to the store for a drink and then carried on walking to the restaurant. Margot and I got a hitch most of the way there, which was great because it started raining again. So much rain!

When we walked in, we were quickly seated. I still had a little of my Mountain Dew left, and Margot still had some of her coffee, since we caught the ride there and didn’t finish our drinks on the way. We thought nothing of it, because the hostess that sat us said nothing about it and she had looked at both of our drinks.

Once we were sat, our drinks were on the table, and our waitress came over and very apologetically said we couldn’t have outside drinks on the table. I said, “oh, sorry, we walked here, can we sit them on the floor?” As I sat my mountain dew bottle on the floor by my chair. She said, “sure,” and walked away.

Then, she came right back, “actually, im so sorry, but I was told you can’t have them inside at all and I have to toss them..” so, I said, “ok,” and drank the end of my bottle before handing it to her (we’re talking a 24 ounce bottle here, clearly of Mountain Dew), and as this is happening, I hear chairs screeching and a man yelling, “you can’t do that!” My back was to him, but Margot looked mortified and all the people around us in the restaurant were staring in shock..

I didn’t see it, but Margot said he charged like he was going to smack the bottle out of my hands, and the waitress blocked him. What the hell? I would have literally lost my mind if this man touched me or anything I was holding. If it were such a huge deal, they should have told us at the door to either throw our drinks away or finish them outside. It was insane. If it weren’t the only restaurant open we would have left, it was that intense and uncomfortable.

The waitress kept apologizing, and it was pretty awkward. I don’t know why I didn’t just step outside to finish it, but either way-I had paid a ridiculous $4 for that drink and was going to drink it all, and it just didn’t cross my mind that it would be such a big deal.. I’m sure he thought it could have had alcohol in it or something, but that was also a little nuts to me. How gross would that have been? Lol, anyway-very odd situation.

I ordered the pulled pork sandwich, and the pork was luke warm, so that really sucked. But otherwise it and the fries tasted good. I did get a glass of wine when Margot got desert. We stayed a while since we had to walk back in the rain, trying to prolong the inevitable. The man never apologized for acting psychotic, but the waitress did profusely, probably thinking we wouldn’t tip her over that. Of course we tipped her well, and I would have regardless.

Anyway-we did indeed walk back in the rain, only half heartedly trying to hitch. I wanted to meet my step goal, and I knew not much movement would happen when we got back. I was right: besides doing laundry and each of us showering again-we pretty much lounged on our beds and watched TV in sweet, dry bliss-while the rain came down outside. It’s the perfect way to spend a zero.

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.