Day 98, part 1

Mile 1713.5 to Ashland

PCT Miles: 6.2 (9.9km)

Total Miles: 1719.7 (2751.5km)

It’s town day! Going downhill, backpack as light as it can be, beautiful morning and feeling rested after sleeping for almost ten hours!

I had internet yesterday at camp, so I could arrange a ride with the hotel I’ll stay at tonight: it’s a new hotel and word on trail is that it’s a cool one and most importantly, hiker friendly.

I arrived at the trailhead at 8am and waited for one hour until Jay showed up on this gigantic car. Air conditioning blasting, I almost froze during our 25 minutes ride to Ashland. On the way, Jay, who owns the hotel, told me more about it.

She recently bought and renovated this hotel, moved to Ashland last December and opened it in April this year: it’s her first hiking season! Since my room was already free, she let me check in at 10am and I could finally, after one week, shower. My body was completely covered in dust, salt and ash.

I loved this place! The Columbia Hotel! It’s fully decorated with local artists paintings 🖼️ that are all on sale. They have local DJs playing every now and then and the rooms and common spaces look beautiful. It’s almost calling me to take a zero…