Trail Notes
For as excited and romanticized as our group was imagining our 'return to the PCT' to be, our first night’s campsite was far from glamorous. It was a cul-de-sac at the end of a dirt road, in the dingy interstate town of Cabazon. We camped about ten feet from the trail, at the point where, over a year ago, we begrudgingly took a detour via public transit around a forty-two mile section that was closed due to a fire.
After a hot double breakfast (it's going to take me a while to get used to eating a single breakfast once I get off the trail) and an unusual amount of socialization/procrastination while waiting for the clouds to lift (they never did), I finally got back on the trail around 1pm.
Not sure if it was the beer, the bed, or both, but I slept like a freaking log. My body didn't seem thrilled about getting the day started, but my wallet (a ziploc baggie with some cash, a credit card, and my ID) said that staying in White Pass for another day and night was a no-no. So by 8am I was packed, breakfasted, and on the trail.
The Perseid meteor shower peaked last night. Not the most ideal place to view it from while hiking the PCT (an RV park, in a town, at the lowest elevation of the trail), but we still saw some awesome meteors that we couldn't have seen in LA or Seattle. That was the latest I had gone to bed in a long time.
It was only a short walk to the cafe that Scarecrow (the hiker who gave me a ride into Bend) recommended. Which was a good thing, because by the time I had finished both breakfasts (first a bacon omelet, then a stack of pancakes with bacon on the side) I wasn't walking very fast. Breakfast has to be my favorite town meal.
Day 113.5: mile 2461.6 - 2471.4
After a whopping four hours at Stevens Pass, I was itching to get moving again. But not before appropriately feeding myself. Which, given the limited options at an ski lodge during summer, meant settling for an ice cream cone. With all the huckleberries I have been eating, you would think I would want to try new flavors. Nope. So I walked out of Stevens Pass with a fully loaded pack and a huckleberry flavored waffle cone in hand.