Day 98: mile 1718.7 – mile 1742.7 (+.3 to campground)

Elevation gain: 4,447 ft

Elevation loss: 3,559 ft

Link and I were at Ruby’s for breakfast burritos and smoothies when they opened at 7am. They were super tasty and it worked out perfectly since we were getting picked up at 8am by Chris, a trail angel in town. He was right on time and drove us all the way to the trailhead. Then he insisted on only wanting $10 for the trip…so amazingly generous!

We were hiking by 8:30 and were in the trees for most of the morning. When we would get a glimpse of a view, it was still pretty darn hazy out there.

One of my most favorite wilderness views are Meadows. It doesn’t matter if they’re green or golden yellow…I just love them. We did have a bunch of golden meadow views today and I was drawn to them, wanting to take a picture of just about every one!

Llama crossing 🤣

One strange thing that happened on the trail today was that we ran into a dog, off leash and with no owner anywhere to be found. He was just standing in the middle of the trail, staring us down, and not in a good way. He started growling and barking as we got closer, holding his ground. We didn’t have any other way to go except backwards which, of course, we didn’t want to do. So we kept walking toward him, confident in our body language. I guess he finally realized we seemed like the “alphas” on this trail and finally turned to run away. I would’ve loved to check his collar and try to call his owner, but he surely didn’t seem like he was willing to let us do that. Hope he found his way home! We stopped for lunch after 12 miles, at about 12:45. It’s funny…I didn’t get a tuna/chicken packet for myself for lunch today because I was sure I wouldn’t be as hungry after so many town meals. WRONG! This hunger thing is definitely a little out of control 🤨 We had 12 miles left to camp so we were back on the trail by 1:30. We did see a few new wildflowers again today…I’ll be so sad if that ever comes to an end!

Deptford Pink
Giant Lady Beetle…I loved her cool markings
Ocean Spray
Harvest Brodiaea

We did have a little bit of a dirt road walk today but it took us by some more spectacular golden meadows with even more spectacular houses on them. Also by a little lake and river.

A little road walkin’
Awww…
Looking back on the road we walked on
“Hiker Trash” is actually an endearing name to us 😁
Little Hyatt Reservoir

We are staying in a campground tonight where the PCT hikers all have to stay together in an area so far from the rest of the car campers that we can’t even hear anyone, let alone see anyone else. This is fine by us because many times the car campers are loud while PCT hikers all crash by 9pm. We are the only PCT hikers here, though, so I guess we get the whole place to ourselves. The campground even has flush toilets, sinks, and showers…how luxurious! Being able to just do a quick “rinse off” before putting on my sleep clothes felt absolutely fabulous.

The campground owners even made us walk over this fence way off to the side…are they trying to tell us something 😜

Thanks for reading, guys! Double Down