We had an AMAZING time resting up in Ashland, Oregon! It almost feels like we had 3 zeros since we were done hiking at 8:45am on our last day we were on trail. We got to celebrate our anniversary, hang out with hiker friends, and basically eat our way through this town. We had so many food choices all within a super short walking distance of the Plaza Inn & Suites, right along the Ashland Creek. On our first full zero day, Link and I made our way to Cafe 116 which we had heard had great coffee and homemade food items. What an understatement…Paige is the owner and makes all of her croissants, scones and quiches by hand. Link had the chocolate croissant and French press coffee while I had the regular croissant, French press and a jalapeño infused pineapple juice mimosa. WOW! Paige was so fun to chat with that we ended up staying for an hour and half or more as she continued to stuff our bellies with quiche and other pastry items as well.

Paige’s croissants are so famous that she ran out while we were there and promised to hold 2 aside for us for the next day…so nice! We then had some errands to do…the grocery co-op for a few resupply items (what a cool place), and the Mountain Provisions Outfitter for fuel. This is where we ran into Pocket Sauce, Duckie, and Naps. They skipped ahead to Ashland and it was fun to run into them which I didn’t think was possible in such a big town.

The outfitter had the whole PCT on their wall…we are at the yellow star now!!
We both found new masks which will be easier to don!

This town is beautiful, with everything so easily accessible. We loved just walking around and checking everything out.

Clockweed
Normally, they have a TON of people here for the Shakespeare Festival, but it was cancelled this year.
Our hotel had a great outdoor sitting area by the creek.

We also had more pastries at Mix. I had a total of THREE cream puffs as big as my hand, and a lemon merengue tart while Link had 2 chocolate/peanut bars, a salted caramel tart and tiramisu…man, they were good! Then we got to meet up with Mantis & Pants for drinks at Gil’s and Mexican food at Taqueria Picaro…YUM!

Mantis made a time lapse of our dinner…we were there for 1.5 hrs, but this is only 20 seconds!

Besides all the eating, we also washed our very dirty packs and trekking poles, and fixed our tent zipper. We definitely had a ton of fun in this town, but are ready to see what Oregon has to show us!

Here are some crazy California stats:

Miles – 1,691.3

Elevation Gain 296,635 (56.2 miles)

Elevation Loss 293,344 (55.6 miles)

Bears 5

Trail Magic 3 times

Trail Angels 26

We are getting picked up at 8am tomorrow morning to head back to the trail and continue with our once in a lifetime adventure. Hope you continue to follow along with us! Double Down