To PCT mile 668.7 (stats here).
I slept well at the sofa. There was no noise and it was cool, which has been a problem earlier when sleeping indoors. Maybe the pleasant evening played a part too. Metronome got up 5:30am and I followed suit, even as I was not going anywhere.
Metronome made a huge steak for himself. It was quite hilarious. I ate some porridge, and bread. We talked until he had his ride to get the 7am bus. If everything would go smoothly, I would take the 2:30pm bus.
Erica left work and I started to sort my stuff and write the last catch up for my blog. I also tried to catch up with some emails and messages. It feels that I've pretty much dropped off the grid what comes to keeping contact with friends and family.
I got an email from Amazon that my sleeping bag was delivered. Sweet. We agreed with Erica that she could get me to the post office 1pm. There was a bus stop nearby. In this smaller towns the bus does not operate that often. In Ridgecrest, it operates only Mon, Wed and Fri, 3 times a day.
Before going, I made a big bean salad to honor the request that every hiker quest prepares a meal. I think it turned out quite ok, and people told that they enjoyed it. While having a chance, I drank too much coffee as people woke up at different times and prepared new pots.
After getting photos, we departed to the post office. Erica was having her lunch break and also needed to deliver few packages of her own. To my annoyance, the people at the post office told me that they have not yet processed the deliveries they got from UPS. Pleading did not help and they said that I should come on the next day. Funny that they cannot put the package on the proper shelf right away when they get it from UPS, but just toss it to a huge trolley.
Erica promised that I can spent another night at her place, so that was good. We went to the nearby Dollarstore so that I could buy toothpaste that I forgot the previous day. While being there, I realised that I should get a box for the things I was to sent away, so I asked Erica if we could briefly visit the post office again. And while I was getting the box, I decided to try my luck again and asked about the sleeping bag again from another employee. After brief exlpaining she promised to look for it. And after small trouble, it was found. Always worth a second try!
I apogolized Erica that she needed to wait, but as a nice person she did not mind. I hastily assembled the package I needed to send. It included the quilt, sleeping bag inliner, my 5-port charger, 2 puffs, sun umberella and some small stuff. I got a 2-port charger and a sleeping bag. The mailing of extra large priority box was 30 dollars.
I had still 20 minutes before the bus departure so everything went great after all. The bus stop was next to a court house and there was a fellow coming from a verdict reading. He got prohibition from three tickets and was happy from the outcome and chatty. There was also a young girl from Switzerland, getting back to trail after having a break in her home country do her school final exams.
The ride back to trailhead took 30 minutes. The day was its hottest so I took a relaxed pace up the mountain. At one point a met with a girl who turned out to be a Finnish journalist. She recognized my accent and we chatted a good half an hour. She was more interested about the nature than hiking as a sport, so joined the trail after visiting Vancouver Island and Olympia.
When I had climbed the mountain, I realised that the time was already 6pm. There was still a long way till the next water source, over 10 miles, where I intended to be. I picked up the speed and practically ran the downhill portions where it was manageable. I passed some perfectly fine camping spots with fully realising that the area around the water source would probably be packed. When it was already dark, I met with Mammoth. It was nice to chat and now it was completely dark. I was at the full tent site 10pm, and only found a semi decent place to have my cowboy camp.
I slept well at the sofa. There was no noise and it was cool, which has been a problem earlier when sleeping indoors. Maybe the pleasant evening played a part too. Metronome got up 5:30am and I followed suit, even as I was not going anywhere.
Metronome made a huge steak for himself. It was quite hilarious. I ate some porridge, and bread. We talked until he had his ride to get the 7am bus. If everything would go smoothly, I would take the 2:30pm bus.
 |
| Erica was a super cool hostess. |
Erica left work and I started to sort my stuff and write the last catch up for my blog. I also tried to catch up with some emails and messages. It feels that I've pretty much dropped off the grid what comes to keeping contact with friends and family.
I got an email from Amazon that my sleeping bag was delivered. Sweet. We agreed with Erica that she could get me to the post office 1pm. There was a bus stop nearby. In this smaller towns the bus does not operate that often. In Ridgecrest, it operates only Mon, Wed and Fri, 3 times a day.
Before going, I made a big bean salad to honor the request that every hiker quest prepares a meal. I think it turned out quite ok, and people told that they enjoyed it. While having a chance, I drank too much coffee as people woke up at different times and prepared new pots.
After getting photos, we departed to the post office. Erica was having her lunch break and also needed to deliver few packages of her own. To my annoyance, the people at the post office told me that they have not yet processed the deliveries they got from UPS. Pleading did not help and they said that I should come on the next day. Funny that they cannot put the package on the proper shelf right away when they get it from UPS, but just toss it to a huge trolley.
Erica promised that I can spent another night at her place, so that was good. We went to the nearby Dollarstore so that I could buy toothpaste that I forgot the previous day. While being there, I realised that I should get a box for the things I was to sent away, so I asked Erica if we could briefly visit the post office again. And while I was getting the box, I decided to try my luck again and asked about the sleeping bag again from another employee. After brief exlpaining she promised to look for it. And after small trouble, it was found. Always worth a second try!
I apogolized Erica that she needed to wait, but as a nice person she did not mind. I hastily assembled the package I needed to send. It included the quilt, sleeping bag inliner, my 5-port charger, 2 puffs, sun umberella and some small stuff. I got a 2-port charger and a sleeping bag. The mailing of extra large priority box was 30 dollars.
I had still 20 minutes before the bus departure so everything went great after all. The bus stop was next to a court house and there was a fellow coming from a verdict reading. He got prohibition from three tickets and was happy from the outcome and chatty. There was also a young girl from Switzerland, getting back to trail after having a break in her home country do her school final exams.
The ride back to trailhead took 30 minutes. The day was its hottest so I took a relaxed pace up the mountain. At one point a met with a girl who turned out to be a Finnish journalist. She recognized my accent and we chatted a good half an hour. She was more interested about the nature than hiking as a sport, so joined the trail after visiting Vancouver Island and Olympia.
 |
| A couple of these were lying on the trail today. Needed to poke the fellows with my pole to get them moving. |
When I had climbed the mountain, I realised that the time was already 6pm. There was still a long way till the next water source, over 10 miles, where I intended to be. I picked up the speed and practically ran the downhill portions where it was manageable. I passed some perfectly fine camping spots with fully realising that the area around the water source would probably be packed. When it was already dark, I met with Mammoth. It was nice to chat and now it was completely dark. I was at the full tent site 10pm, and only found a semi decent place to have my cowboy camp.
 |
| The views are getting greener. |
Comments
Post a Comment