Day 25 was so-so. Nothing exciting, except went through a burn area (see below). Very windy & cold as there were no windbreaks.
Also, a lot of Poodle Dog Bush, which like poison ivy & poison oak reacts with your skin on contact and severe itchy rashes are formed. However, PDB has the useful purpose of regenerating growth quickly in burnt areas and hence, one finds them there. That's the extent of my knowledge of PDB, which I found out only a month or so ago before starting the hike.
Day 26 turned out to be much more interesting. It started out super-windy and very cold (close to freezing). Coldest morning to date on this hike. It was difficult getting up and out of the tent..too cold. 😀 Anyway started about 30 mins later than usual and walked as fast as possible to warm up. Just when I was thinking I will stop for having my breakfast, I see Trail Magic. Mosquito Jesus had brought up his van to a dirt road crossing the trail and had just set up some wonderful goodies (glad I started late today). I had 2 donuts, a mini-muffin and some grapes. Perfect breakfast! He also had Pepsi, beer & vodka (might have been good to warm up), but I skipped all those.
Mosquito Jesus sitting at the back of the van and other hikers taking advantage of the trail magic - everybody freezing!
Continuing on, the clouds were still covering the sun and it stayed very cold. Only after 3-4 hours, did the clouds dissipate and finally my fingers started thawing 😀. And when the sun was fully out, hail started falling.
The hail was weirdly shaped too. At least, in my experience, hail is usually spherical, but this was rectangular/square and in layers. Never seen hail like this! It kept hailing even though the sun was out for almost an hour.
Then it was almost lunchtime and as I was getting to my lunch spot, I spot a red van in the parking lot and it was yet another Trail Magic. Mad Dog was giving out cookies & soda while he was waiting for his nephew, with supplies, who was also doing the PCT thru-hike. Essentially he was supporting his nephew's thru-hike by going from trailhead to trailhead with supplies all the way from Mexico to Canada. What a wonderful human being! I had a honey bun (sort of sweet cake), few Oreo cookies, a Mountain Dew and a small can of sausages.
Finally, reached the final destination for the day: Hikertown. This is a weird place which looks like a Western movie set, but caters to hikers. It is right on PCT and hikers can tent camp for free. You can also get rooms - just basic beds only - too. You can freely charge your devices, have a quick outdoor shower and use the bathroom too. It is run by Marta & Richard. As soon as we reached there, Marta offered us freshly made tamales for $3 each. I took one chicken & one pork tamale along with a Pepsi - all for $8. Then got myself a single room for $40.
My room was right at the entrance and next to the highway. The constant traffic almost made it difficult to sleep. Oh well!
Data:
Day 25
Day 26:
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