Day 73

Mile 1147.7 to mile 1154.5

PCT Miles: 6.8 (10.9km)

Total Miles: 1154.5 (1847.2km)

Knowing that you have a short day into town ahead is a double-edged sword: it’s supposedly a short day and you’re motivated to arrive. At the same time, you know you can chill because there’s usually no pressure. We took our time to hike the 7 miles today and enjoy the much less windy day.

In one of our shorts stops, I was taking some pictures on top of a rock when I saw another hiker approaching. After a few seconds I recognized her: it was Clara (literally the only person on the PCT that I knew before starting the hike! We started together in Campo and saw each other for the last time in Idyllwild on day 10)!!!

It was so good to see her! She’s still going strong and said she’s now crushing more and more miles everyday and has a target date to finish the PCT: September 6th! She was hiking with Haribo and after a quick heads up she kept hiking on. We wanted to meet her in Truckee later for a coffee but unfortunately orur hitchhiking schedule didn’t help and we weren’t able to see her again. Somehow I’m sure I’ll see her on trail again! Happy trails, Clara!

The trail this morning was fine, with some snow patches here and there, but nothing sketchy. We crossed paths with quite a few day hikers and chatted with most of them, as our mood was elevated. The highlight of the short day was to hike through a ski station! It’s so interesting to see ski lifts, gondolas and the pistes themselves all without snow. We actually went down (waking) one stretch of a blue piste!

We were a bit hungry when we arrived at the parking lot where we should try to hitch, so we sat down and started to eat some of our snacks and observe the movement. Hitching on a trailhead parking lot should be relatively easy: there’s not a lot of “traffic” but people are usually friendly and willing to give a hike to the next town after they had a pleasant hike themselves and are usually in good mood.

While still munching our food, we saw two guys coming back from the trail to their cars. They had no backpacks and seemed pretty chill. For a split second I thought about letting the laziness take control and ignore them, but I was looking forward to a breakfast burrito, so I went to them and asked “hey good morning. Are you guys by any chance going to Truckee? Could you give us a ride?” Double yes as an answer and we had a ride on our first try!!

They were Dion and Nick, from Australia and New Zealand, and they’re in the US traveling around and visiting some nice spots. They were staying in Truckee for the night so it wasn’t a problem at all first them to bring us. We talked a bit about hiking and the PCT and in 20 minutes we were in town, ready to devour our food and cold drinks!

After lunch we had another mission: find a way to go to our Airbnb which was in a ski resort, 12 miles away. Google Maps told us they there should be a bus that could bring us somewhere nearby our place. We walked a bit to the bus stop 🚏 and literally one minute later a car stopped for us “hey, do you guys want a ride?”. We couldn’t believe our eyes and ears!

Dave, the driver, was a local who also hikes and has hiked the PCT. He said he understands how helpful these rides are and that he always tries to give rides when he can. We talked a bit about hiking (as always) but also music and Europe. It was a pleasant 20 minutes hike to our Airbnb.

We had to wait a bit outside for our checkin time but afterwards everything went well: the wonders of flush toilet and a warm shower cannot be stated enough! It was our first shower since Sunday! Maike seemed really impressed with the dirtiness of her feet 😆.

For the rest of the day we chilled, of course. We finally had time to catch up with everything online, listen to some music and do nothing. Our friends Chris and Jessica arrived late in the evening (we were sleeping already) and tomorrow we take an adventurous zero!