Travel, Wine & Shoes

April 12, 2019
Morena Lake to Pine Valley
Today ~ 11.6 Kilometres
Cumulative ~ 44 Kilometres

Highlight

The Showers ~ that would be plural!

My Day

I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night because everyone around me was snoring and I think I woke up every hour or so. I started off my day tired. I quickly packed up camp and headed up to the bathroom to shower!! It was getting cleaned. The man cleaning kept saying it needed to be cleaned good because I wouldn’t believe what goes on in there. It’s the women’s bathroom. Don’t tell me what goes on and gross me out because I want to shower!!

I showered with my sandals on and it was divine. I didn’t realize how burned my hands and neck were until the water hit it. I also discovered blisters on the bottom of each foot. Ouch. I stuck around a little bit to take advantage of the toilet and avoid having to dig a hole.

Breakfast consisted of a breakfast burrito from the same place I had the burger and fries last night. It sure was good going in!

I disposed of a few items in the Hiker Box in the Ranger Station and hit the trail. I’m going halfway to Mount Laguna and getting off the trail and hitching a ride into Pine Valley to mail some stuff home to Bryan.

The breakfast burrito did not agree with me and made me nauseous and I had to break out the shovel. Karma. Now that’s a piece of gear I’d like to get rid of.

I hiked for a while longer and a guy from Chicago slowed down and hiked with me until I got off the trail. I think that’s what I’m most enjoying – all the new and interesting people I’m meeting.

I got of the trail to head into Pine Valley. There was a lot of construction going on. I stopped and chatted with Eric for a while and he gave me water. One of the guys in the pilot truck brought me to the end of the construction. Embarrassed to say they had to lift my bag into and out of the truck for me. Wimp!!

I hitchhiked a few times as a teenager in Fort McMurray and I felt very weird sticking my thumb out for a ride. A lady named Erin picked me up and dropped me off at the post office in Pine Valley. Her son is starting the trail next week.

I got a large priority box and sat outside the post office with my pack contents all over the place. I managed to fill up the box and my pack feels lighter. I’ll see how I do going to Mount Laguna tomorrow. There’s an outfitter store there if I need to look at getting a lighter pack or sleeping bag.

At this point I’m exhausted, sickly, my feet hurt and damn it I broke another pair of sunglasses. Damn, damn, damn. These were the knock offs I bought in Nicaragua to replace the ones I broke there! This time I left the good ones at home.

I walked over to the motel and got a room for the night. I did laundry and had another shower and now I’m doctoring my feet and watching Sex and the City reruns. Big is off to Paris chasing Carrie ❤️

Good thing I have a lot of time to get to Kennedy Meadows 🤷‍♀️

Scenes

PCT