The day was pleasant with lots of wind again, but the trail was mostly flat or gently uphill. It also went through a very large meadow with only grass and cows for miles around 🙂. My goal was to reach Warner Springs since I had seen this sign yesterday at Scissors Crossing.
The shower, recharging & WiFi along with possible cold/hot drinks was very tempting. BTW, this is the first time I found out that there was a name - "bucket shower" & "bucket laundry" - for what I had thought was normal bathing and washing clothes all during my childhood in India 😀.
Made it to Warner Springs after 23 miles, well before the 7 pm closing time. The Community Resource Center provides all these services for PCT hikers. Though the Center itself was closed (no cold/hot drinks alas), their grounds were open and showers/laundry/recharging were all available and I made full use of it. Very thankful to the Center!
Before I forget, had trail magic lunch thanks to a San Diego-based couple whose son had completed the PCT a few years ago & had been a beneficiary of trail angels. They were doing this now as a way of "pay-it-forward". Respect! 🙏
Post-laundry, some of my clothes were still slightly wet and I figured I would hang them up in the tent overnight to dry. I kept the tent fly (the outer "door") open to facilitate some wind. In the middle of the night, I woke up cold assuming it was cos of the open fly, but as soon as I got up, my head hit wet tent walls! Condensation inside the tent 🤦🏽♂️, thanks to wet clothes. Duh me! Then I had the brilliant idea of keeping the tent mesh door open while keeping the fly closed. However, within a few minutes, I had some scraping noises and turning on the headlamp revealed a 2-inch long ant strolling next to the tent. There went my idea of keeping the door open! Lesson learned: never dry your clothes inside the tent. Leave them outside.
The famous 3rd Gate water cache which has 4 pallets of gallon jugs of water and is the most reliable water cache in the desert
Today:
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