I am on the PCT, yet I just completed my second soak in a hot tub in three days. What? I relax in a recliner sipping a cool drink as I type this blog post, contemplating tomorrow’s hike. Mind you, it is not one of those ratty recliners in a filthy house along the trail. No sir, this puppy is nestled inside a spotlessly clean mountain cabin about 1.5 miles off the trail. Hiking the PCT with Ed is a different animal, like a well groomed slinky leopard compared to a skunk.
Last night was a bit uncomfortable. To assure we had access to the beach Incase others joined us at our camp area we pitched the tent adjacent to the lawn that trailed down to the waters edge. The tent was not level, sloping down and to the right, facing the tent. It was a gentle slope, but a slope nonetheless. About 3:00am, after waking many times, I knew I could not stay prone at that angle. My back muscles stayed flexed most of the night attempting to keep me on the slope. That coupled with Ed sliding down and pushing me onto the wall of the tent motivated me to pull my Tyvex from under the tent, pull my sleeping bag and sleeping pad out of the tent and search by headlamp for level ground, or at least sloping ground that I could align myself to the fall line. I found what I was seeking just 10 feet outside the tent. I quickly set up my sleeping area and was soon feeling the aches in my back departing.
We only had 2 miles of trail and 1.5 of road walking today to bring us to Hyatt Lake Resort. Ed has made reservations a few weeks ago. The short distance prompted us to sleep in and lazily prepare to leave once awake. It was after 8:00am by the time we were packed up and on the trail. Hannah was on a similar schedule and followed us to the PCT. She stopped for water while we continued on, yet she passed us about 10 minutes later.
We got to the entrance to the campground on Hyatt reservoir. As we walked downhill toward the camping pay station we say Melissa coming up. We had not seen her since Callahan’s and had been wondering if she were ahead or behind. Turns out both were true. She camped behind us last night, yet passed us this morning as we broke camp. The only reason we got to see her was she stepped off the trail to use the pit toilets at the campground before soldiering on. We chatted for about 10 minutes. There is a good chance we will see her in the days ahead as she is keeping about the same pace we are.
We walked through a deserted campground trying to reason out why they would be closed on the Fourth of July weekend. We walked across the dam that creates the lake then onto the paved road and up to the Hyatt Lake Resort. It was now only about 10:00am. We registered for our room on the off chance it would be available. It was not. We ensconced ourselves at an outside umbrella table, ate breakfast and lunch, contacted friends and read. I held a brief text conversation with hiking buddy Derek over in Ireland. He sent a voice text. Good to hear his voice and accent. Ed ordered a chicken salad from the restaurant. I ate my trail lunch of crackers, cheese and dried apples.
We moved into our cabin at about 1:45pm. It has a hot tub! A quick washing of socks and shirt, then a long soak in the hot tub. Ahhhhh. No swim suit and too visible to the other cabins to go nude. Underwear looks like Speedos and besides, it got them clean.
The rest of the afternoon were occupied with blogging in a recliner, a nap, a trip to the small store and dinner. The movie for the night was “The Dawn Wall”. I tried for a few minutes to use my phone as a WiFi base for Roku TV in the in the cabin, but my ATT signal was not strong enough. Had it been, we would have watch “Free Solo”. All in all, this is a new paradigm for doing the PCT.
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