Day 24 – Hiker Heaven
Originally published on Mason Hikes the PCT 2017.
Mileage: 18. I didn’t intend to stop at Hiker Heaven for the night, but it’s a great place to be! In Agua Dulce (mile 454)
I had camped with about 13 other people last night at a ranger station, but I slept in a tiny bit and everyone was gone when I woke up at 7! The early bird gets the worm I guess.
My only plan for the day was to get to Hiker Heaven to pick up my boxes, but I didn’t know anything beyond that. I hiked for a little while before running into some people I recognized and a little bit of trail magic. Fresh, cold fruit, beers, and Kool Aid squeeze drinks. OHHH YEAH!
Everybody took a detour to a store, but I pushed on and found myself walking to Agua Dulce through some incredible scenery after a short amount of time. Mind-blowing rock formations in every direction were a welcome change from fire-ravaged hills, so I spent a lot of quality time in the few miles outside of town.
When I got to town, I obviously went straight for the burgers and had a lovely milkshake to go along. Not the best on trail, but far from the worst. I was a happy camper.
I started to walk to Hiker Heaven from the restaurant, but was kindly offered a ride from a local, so I was on my way to what other hikers have described as one of the best stops on trail. I was going to grab my packages and go, but when I got there, everything changed.
Packages, camping, Wi-Fi, power station, showers, laundry, water and Gatorade, TV, kitchen, bathrooms, pupdogs, and more! It really **was **heaven! I decided that I didn’t NEED to go anywhere, so I might as well stay and hang out with this new group of hikers. I got my packages, sorted through what I wanted, then made a lot of new friends with gifts of delicious food I couldn’t fit and cookies/fruit cake from my mom (thanks mom but 9 lbs won’t fit!). We hung out eating, drinking, and talking for a long time, discussed forming groups for the Sierras, and shared stories until it was time to get some sleep and head out in the morning. The community surrounding this trail continues to astound me day in and day out.