PCT Day 78: Old Station

Miles Hiked: 22.2

PCT Mileage: 1387.5

This morning I slept in super late. When I hike til 11:30 at night it is so hard to get up and keep going the next day. Once again my body still feels trashed from the high mile week to catch up to my friends and I still need a break. I tell myself I can hang in there for a bit longer. It’s 7:20 when I start hiking. I am moving slow but talking to trail Diva makes the miles go by quick. 12 miles to Old Station. The forest was less burned the closer we got to town. I met some hikers from 2021 who had to skip up to here because of the fire. On the walk into town Jay Bird caught up. We took the quick way in and out via an earlier road not on the guthook map.

In old station there is a gas station, a cafe, and not much else. Apparently down the road is a post office and a small store. We heard the wait times at the restaurant were two hours. After my experience in Quincy I chose to eat at the gas station instead. I got a burrito, an ice cream sandwich, a life water, and a beer. I sat on the bench next to the building hiding in the shade and relaxing for three hours with Midnight and Diva. Galleleio was here so I got to see him again as well. He hung out with us and told me he would see me at camp tonight. I left around three with Midnight and Diva. Less than a mile back on the trail, we dropped our packs to slackpack to the “Subway Cave” it’s a lava tube that you can walk through for 0.3 miles underground. It was so much cooler in the tube and I wished we could have taken another break there despite just leaving town. I forgot my headlamp so I used my phone flashlight to look around in the dark. Soon enough we had to leave and go back out into the hot hot sun. Today was way hotter than I realized. When there wasn’t shade it felt like I could smell my skin burning. My feet hurt and I was feeling so bad. I could hardly keep up with Diva and Midnight to make it to dinner. We ate our snacks in the shade with a nice view. A lot of other people were camping there and I was jealous they were done walking for the day. Galleleio caught up to us at dinner. We all walked three more miles to camp afterwards. I was so exhausted. When we got there I didn’t even blow up my sleeping pad I was so tired. I just fell asleep on my 1/8 inch pad, arguably doing nothing for me besides keeping the dirt off. The sunset was amazing as we walked into camp. Despite feeling bad I thought it was one of my favorite nights on the trail. Midsummer. Hot. And full of the best kind of exhaustion there is. Exhaustion because I got to do what I love all day everyday.

Happy Trails!

-Early Bird