Legs and Borders

Night was quite loud due to a close proximity of the stream and a bunch of crickets serenading us to sleep until midnight. It finally got quieter later on though. We woke up at 6:30am few hours before the first Sunday mass, no one from the church staff was around to meet and greet us. I packed my things up and went to the general store which was opening soon and where the shuttle was picking us up at 8am. I bought a sausage and cheese muffin which I microwaved in store, most of people went to the coffee shop for breakfast but I decided to skip it, I pulled out some tortilla chips and two chocolate coconut bars from hiker box instead, it was more than enough for me. Our shuttle aka a pick up van arrived at 7:45, there was eight of us willing to come back to the trail and somehow we all fit in, five of us sitting at the back, it was a fun but a bit cold ride. We headed back on trail with Sonic and Stretch two girls who joined us on the campsite yesterday evening, people had various ideas...

"So never mind the darkness we still can find a way. Nothing lasts forever even cold November rain." Guns N' Roses. Nice and easy day, we hiked 20 miles to Road 23, Lucky called a trail angel beforehand and he gave us a ride to Trout Lake a small, hiker friendly town. Once here we sat outside the shop for few hours eating ice cream and drinking beer, we went to a nearby campsite and had a shower, ate a delicious wet burrito in a food truck, resupplied at the general shop and went to a church up the road which had a campsite with toilets and charging points. Everyone were expecting lots of other hikers to roll in but it looks like most people decided to skip Trout Lake as it is only 80 miles from Cascade Locks and push another 40 miles to White Pass. It's a bit of a shame as it is one of the last little hiker friendly towns along the PCT, few last remaining resupply points being Passes with very few facilities and/or social hubs but it is what it is. Tomorrow we are ta...

I walked today way longer than expected, not quite sure why as the path was quite steep. I managed to catch up with Tank Top, Fomo and Lucky in the afternoon thanks to a trail magic they stopped at. I joined them there for a bit to have a soda, some crisps and an apple it was one of those unexpected treats that helped me push few extra miles in the afternoon. We decided to camp by the Bear Lake, mosquitoes are back with full force in the area, everyone set up their tent real quick and hid inside from the swarms of angry insects. We are only 20 miles away from the Road 23 which has a shuttle running (from today actually) three times per day back and forth to the Trout Lake, the aim is to get on the second shuttle at 11:30am but if we won't manage to be there in time we can try calling trail angels to arrange an extra pick up. Patchy snow is back, nothing serious yet though, bu its just a matter of time before we will be walking long distances on snow covered trail. I can't wait,...