Day 60 – Smoke on the water
Originally published on Mason Hikes the PCT 2017.
Mileage: 20
Today was absolutely delightful, and what a coincidence, I ate a whole bag of gummi bears again today. Hmmmm…
I started off my morning early with a 7AM breakfast at Driftwood Cafe, where I had the Carolina Connection, an interesting take on biscuits and gravy mixed with eggs benedict and a potato pancake, and a waffle covered in strawberries. Fresh, warm, hearty food does a lot to lift a hiker’s spirits while in town.
After breakfast, I needed to go to the grocery store to pick up more snacks so that I don’t die out on trail. Clif bars and a lot of the things I usually eat were super cheap, so I stocked up a little more than necessary. I also bought some muffins and a protein shake for second breakfast this morning, which I decided to eat outside the store. While I was doing so, a homeless man’s dog came up to beg for food, and I ended up talking to the guy for a while. He said he was just like us hikers in that he just camps wherever he wants nowadays, though he prefers the city to the mountains because there is more food, money, and drugs in the city. He and some of his associates decided that I was crazy for trying to walk from Mexico to Canada, but I tried to convince them it was a totally reasonable thing to do. Before I left, I went back to the store to buy some dog food, though she didn’t seem to like the flavor we tried to feed her. Good thing I got the variety pack! 😬🐶
I went back to the hostel, packed up my stuff, and started heading back to the trail. I obviously needed to stop at McDonald’s for a milkshake, and I ran into a hiker I knew from Hiker Heaven, Rabbit. We sat and chatted for a while and I learned that he skipped from Bishop to Tahoe and then hiked to Belden, so now he going south from Tahoe through the Sierras. He asked how they were and I told him they weren’t too bad and that I managed to do some high mileage days towards the end. He got really excited when he heard this and started talking about doing 30s for the whole thing. I warned him against doing that and to bring extra food, but it turns out that he’s a crazy man and has done the Continental Divide Trail and is planning to Triple Crown with the Appalachian Trail next year. I also learned through Facebook that he’s only been on trail for about 60 days, so he’s on a similar pace to me!
We finished up our food and hitched out of town together, getting two different rides from some lovely folks named Enique and Doug to get up to the trailhead. It was surprisingly effortless to get out of South Lake Tahoe, so I was back on the trail by around 2PM.
Not wanting to be a lazy bum today, I decided to hike as far as I could and aim for 15 miles. I hiked up to Aloha Lake, which in sure would be spectacular if not covered in smoke, but it was still pretty cool today.
I soon discovered that 15 miles would put me at the very top of a pass, so I decided to go up and over tonight and get it over with. The walk was eerie through the smoke, but as the sun began to set, it was really cool to see through a different medium.
I ended up hiking a little past dark, but I felt great and only stopped because I was climbing towards snow again. I set up camp and decided to try my new discovery: sriracha chicken ramen.
It was good, but not life changing, so I’m still partial to my creamy chicken and oriental flavors. Hopefully when I wake up, the smoke will have magically cleared and the world will be back to its natural and beautiful state!