It was a quiet night but neither of us slept great. The morning was chilly enough that we hiked out of camp in our puffy jackets, at one point I tucked my trekking poles under my arms so I could shove my hands in my pockets. There were only 13 miles to go to the highway and it was mostly downhill so we were cruising through miles.
We stopped at a spring that was right on the trail to fill up on one last bit of water. I didn’t get quite as much as I thought I would need and ended up drinking a little of Jake’s extra water towards the end of our miles. We leapfrogged with some different hikers today, some friendly and some focused on getting to the highway.
We rounded a corner about 2 miles from the highway to see firefighters on a hill rolling up hoses and a fire truck on the dirt road. Some of the hikers we had seen before had stopped for a break near this and we asked if they saw a fire. They told us it seemed like the firefighters were out here doing training exercises and they hadn’t seen any smoke. Great news for such a dry area that has already been hit pretty hard by past fires.
One last mini break to rehydrate and we made it to the road. We just missed someone giving out sparkling waters to a few hikers. Seven hikers ended up on the side of the road trying to hitch into town which can be daunting for drivers so several cars passed by, one guy even audibly sped up. Soon a Bronco stopped to get the three hikers who were ahead of us. I was mentally preparing to wait for a while but was pleasantly surprised when a few vehicles later a truck pulled over for the rest of us.
Our driver was nice enough to drop us at the grocery in town where Jake and I grabbed some snacks for town. We then had to figure out the local bus to get us to our hotel 2.5 miles away. There wasn’t an official stop so we just stood on the side of the road by the Starbucks hoping it would stop nearby. It did stop and we were soon at the hotel.
We got to check in early and headed to the brewery for lunch and beer. The rest of the day was spent showering, relaxing, and just enjoying all the comforts of town.
PCT Hike 