Day 124

Trail miles: 27

Total: 1933.2

Woke up normal time and sat in my tent in the dark wondering how my life’s decisions have led me to this very moment. We met at the bathrooms before we left, where we got yelled at by some man that PCT hikers had to be off the porch with their bags and under the designated hiker tent. Dude, it’s 6:00am, no one is out here waiting for the restaurant to open at 12:00pm! Plus we weren’t even on the porch, we were at a picnic table next to it. We were about to leave anyway, we were just using the Wi-Fi that doesn’t reach the PCt tent. They were so weird about hikers. Apparently Brad and Spare Change got yelled at for being under a tent that wasn’t the PCT tent. Which was in the grassy area right next to it. They didn’t even have their bags with them so it was just them. The PCT was crowded so why couldn’t they sit there to make room? When it was pouring rain yesterday, the picnic table barely fit under the tent so us and our bags still got wet. And the sprinkler they had going went so far that it sprayed someone in the back every once in a while.

Ok end of rant. We road walked about a mile and a half back to the PCT where we found out the trail was closed just south of that highway due to a fire very close to trail. Some hikers turned back to hitch to Bend since they thought it was too dangerous. We kept hiking with the expectation that we knew our exit points and how to reach safety. We had two big hills before lunch and they wiped me out. I had to keep stopping. Luckily after lunch was easy going. I had to eat lunch quick because everyone was already finished and ready to go. I was able to keep up easily the 3 miles down the hill to the lake. There was a tent there set up for someone’s anniversary! Such a cute setup with pillows and food. I immediately jumped in the lake for a swim. I am going to do that now every chance I get. It just boosts my mood so much to swim around. Everyone else got in the water too! The next 8 miles to camp I went pretty fast because it was easy terrain and because the storm was coming in. I didn’t want to take a break either because I try to make it to camp by 6:00pm to have time for dinner. There were a lot of logs to climb over but luckily these were small enough to step or hop over. By the last mile, I was running any chance I could as the thunder got louder. We all made it to the lake just in time to set up our tents and jump in before it started pouring. The lighting made me nervous because those are what start forest fires. It has cleared up now. I went down to the lake for sunset pictures, but the couple camped next to us I’m pretty sure we’re skinny dipping. So I didn’t really know what to do other than walk away. I got more pictures when they left the next time I got water to filter. By the way, the mosquitoes are winning. I have at least 30 bug bites on me and they itch like crazy. And my cortizone doesn’t alway work, so I end up itching them until they bleed. Scabs are forming.