An easy day was planned to let our bodies recover a bit from the last two days. We rolled out of camp around 7 to try to beat the heat and just casually made our way around the trail. I was feeling the last couple days catch up to me so I was going slow.
Water was 4 miles from where we camped and we made it there in good time. The stream was flowing pretty slow but there was plenty of water in the spots that weren’t weird looking. Lots of bees wanted the water and to hang out on my pack too. After water we planned our next break spot under a bridge where apparently the frogpocolypse was happening (according to some people who had camped here earlier).
At the bridge we decided it looked a little weird and pushed on to a nice shaded spot near the road to watch traffic. We decided to just eat lunch because we were hungry and it was a short day. There were rumors that the place we were ultimately aiming for was able to get pizza delivered and we decided that was likely in our future. We’ve been kind of between hiker bubbles so it was nice when we heard a voice behind us. He looked lost because the trail kind of disappeared behind a tree and it’s a huge lot for some industrial stuff so we waved him over. We met Hoops and chatted about getting pizza later and how we didn’t have trail names yet. He pointed out that the two of us know each other the best so it would make the most sense that we would bestow them on each other. Soon after he parted Forest showed up to hang in the shade and we were on our way to the lake.
The hike to the picnic area was really pretty as it wound around almost the entire lake. It was a little torturous to look down and see this inviting water but still be so far from it. Since it was Saturday there were plenty of people out on boats fishing and just riding around having fun. We probably could have made our way down to one of the beaches but by this time we were just focused on getting to be in camp super early.
Just as we got to the road to go down to the picnic area Hoops came up behind us. He had gone down to the lake to get water and reported that it was disgusting and we again hadn’t missed anything. We all walked down together and discussed putting in a pizza order once we got to the pavilion. There were three other hikers already there who said they already ate their pizza and it was amazing. While we waited for our delivery I washed socks in the camp sink and we all just hung out chatting. Finally the pizza showed up and just as quickly disappeared into our bellies. It was fantastic.
Since we were staying here we eventually got our things and figured out how to get to the ranger kiosk up the road. We took a detour that didn’t help us at all but eventually we made it, paid our camp fee, and the ranger gave us a “shortcut” to the hiker sites. She must have gone to the same “shortcut” school as my dad because that wasn’t a dang shortcut at all. Back down the road to the bike path and the up a steep hill on the bike path winding around through car camping sites until we made it to the hiker area. We got the tent set up and could just chill the rest of the evening. The rest of the campground was partyin but our area was quiet. It was another windy night but luckily we were protected in a little circle of trees and bushes.
PCT Hike 