4.19.2018 Thursday Day 26

Miles 347-369

After surviving another windy night, this morning we woke to clouds surrounding us. They didn’t appear to look good either. I pulled the weather for Wrightwood off my Garmin as we didn’t have cell service. The forecast was lows in the 30s with a slight chance of snow. Awesome. We packed up, bundled up and head out by 9am. The Initial plan for today was to hike 13 miles to a campsite. Our starting elevation was 3,567ft and the campsite we had planned on was at 8,101ft so we knew it would be a big day no matter what.

Plans of course changed when we thought about how cold it was going to be at that altitude. I also knew Kelly had already made a reservation for this evening and Friday at a place in Wrightwood. I talked it over the Laura and Justin and we decided that if we all felt good, we’d shoot for a 21 mile day and Kelly would pick us up at mile 369.

For most of the day we were nestled in with the clouds. It was definitely cold, we were rained on a little and eventually snowed on for about half a minute. And of course, it was windy.

Eventually the clouds broke just enough to improve the moral. By the time we were at the “downhill 6 more miles” mark and Justin had eaten his last McDonalds cheeseburger, it was total survival mode 🙂 Get off the mountain, get to a room, get a shower and some food. I text Kelly when I knew she was close to town and told her we’d be down in about 2 hours. Sure enough, just before 7pm she was waiting for us at Hwy 2 where the PCT crosses.

She’s a gem. She totally spoiled us by purchasing KFC–Justin was so excited. And then making us small brownie desserts. Tomorrow we will take the day off for chores: laundry, resupply, post office and a trip to REI for a few items. I should say we were all super excited for a shower as this was our longest stretch without one. I know, gross.

So a 21 mile day in the books. That’s my longest day ever. Again, pretty proud of our little group. And thanks to Kel for being the motivation for a few extra miles today.