Day 120: mile 2215.5 – mile 2229.4

Elevation gain: 2,098 ft

Elevation loss: 2,502 ft

We got to sleep in until 6:30am this morning and the first thing I noticed was that a rodent pooped in my cup sitting outside the tent! How rude!! It’s the cup I use to eat with, but I leave it next to the tent at night so I can fill it with water in the morning to do a quick face washing. I always look in the cup before I fill it because I also found a spider in there one time too. 🤨 The funny thing is that Link had hung our packs since we were at a site with a lot of bushes and downed trees around us…rodent heaven. So it’s almost like the rodent was super frustrated with that fact, shook his middle finger at us, and then took a dump in my cup. 😜 Needless to say, I used a wet wipe to wash it down thoroughly before using it!

We left camp at 7:30 and while we were walking, I found myself reflecting on what I’m going to miss after this trip. The early morning hiking, after about a mile when my feet warm up and stop hurting, is my favorite time of day. I will miss that for sure, as well as sleeping in the tent on cold nights…it really is so cozy! I will definitely miss the sounds of birds, insects, woodpeckers, frogs, chipmunks and pikas, but I’ll also miss the quiet times as well. Our everyday problems are pretty minimal right now…water, food, shelter and warmth. We realize how darn awful the “real world” is for everyone right now and I have to say we definitely aren’t anxious to get back to that! But family, especially the kids, our dog, and not having to walk ALL day, EVERY day sure does sound super inviting.

After hiking about 4 miles, we stopped at the creek where Mantis & Pants camped, to get water and eat breakfast. They had already left because our plan was to meet them at the road to Trout Lake by our 2pm pick up time.

The trail is connected by roads quite often

We finally caught up to the rest of our “tramily” after about 10 miles. So we walked the final 4 miles toward the road together…all in the trees again today.

We arrived at the road at 1:00, so we just sat and chatted while waiting for Doug, a trail angel who gives rides to hikers. It’s a 13 mile drive into Trout Lake, so the ride was absolutely necessary and we are so thankful that Doug is available to help us! Doug was so fun to talk with…he truly loves helping PCT hikers and told us all about Trout Lake, which is adorable. We gave Doug a donation and he said he’s able to take us back to the trail tomorrow…AMAZING!

Doug dropped us off at Joanna’s house, a different trail angel who offers hikers to stay in rooms at her house for a very minimal fee. When Mantis set up our stay with her, Joanna said she had 2 big beds in her camper that the four of us could sleep in. We had no idea what to expect, but this camper was great. Totally classic and perfect for our PCT experience!

Joanna was still at work so we dropped our bags in the camper and headed to get some lunch first. We went to The Station Cafe for delicious jalapeño burgers, fries, milkshakes, and huckleberry mimosas. Then we all had resupply boxes to pick up at the General Store where I also found some new sunglasses…nice!

Huckleberry mimosas at Station Cafe

When we got back to the camper, Joanna was home from work so she graciously allowed us to shower and do laundry in her house. She is so extremely generous to all the hikers who pass through Trout Lake and we feel so lucky to have been able to stay with her! Before dinner, Joanna took us to the totally awesome community garden to gather some veggies for our meal. Mantis and I were in charge of gathering the zucchini and cucumbers, and I have to say they look EXTREMELY similar at times! We were just a couple city girls out of our element 😳

Then it was back to the house to chop everything and make the meal together…our first home cooked meal in many months!

Kai, the awesome dog
Missy, the 22 lb cat

Joanna and her kids were the best hosts ever and we could’ve chatted with them all night. But we have an early wake up call tomorrow so we tried to express our thanks as best we could, and it was off to the camper for the 4 of us. What a fun day, but we keep hearing about the amazing sights north of Trout Lake and can’t wait to experience them for ourselves! Thanks for continuing to follow along with us…DoubleDown