Skip to main content

Another Nero Day (D-23 430.4 - 444.3)

Today was a short day (guess, it was a Nero since I stopped hiking by early afternoon). Had to pick up the food resupply box from Acton campground that Ravin had shipped a couple of weeks ago. Before that stopped by North Fork Ranger Station where the US Forest Ranger of that area maintains a wonderful water cache.

This is absolutely not a part of a Ranger's job, but he does it out of the kindness of his heart. This is a very key water source since there is a 30-mile section without any water but for this. Thank you, Ranger!

Acton campground is a commercial RV park & campsite which offers resupply pick-up ($5), showers ($7), laundry ($5), WiFi ($5)& overnight camping ($17), as well as has a small convenience store in it. 

Acton Park: Video of the park, if you are interested

The staff were very hiker-friendly and since I reached there around 1 pm, there was not a crush of hikers and I was able to quickly make use of the laundry and then shower. Interestingly, the laundry machines either accepted coins or could be paid via an app, and the app gave $5 for each first-time user. Used the app and my laundry was free 🙂. The only minor inconvenience was that since all my clothes were in the laundry, I had to sit outside the laundry room in a rain shirt and a towel warped around me, till the clothes dried 😬. In the larger scheme of things, sitting in the sun & reading a book while wearing a towel is not exactly an inconvenience 😀. Heated up a frozen California Pizza Kitchen that the store was selling and had it for lunch. So, now I can eat a whole 12" pizza in one sitting 😎! Checked out my resupply box and as expected there was too much food. I definitely thought I would be eating more on the trail and/or would be taking more time to reach the next town. Anyway donated some food (see below) to the hiker box, which must have been appreciated by the other hikers cos all of it was gone after a couple of hours.


Couple of interesting photos:
    Love the red!

I have been seeing these kind of pipe gates recently as we near the big cities. I am assuming these are for preventing any kind of motorized vehicles or bicycles on the trail. Just a guess though.

Data:

Comments

Unknown said…
Super, you are finding some good Samaritans even in such a remote areas!!good luck🍀

Popular posts from this blog

Pleasures of being on PCT (D-16; 303.7 - 328.8 miles)

Heading out from the cowboy camping experience last night, I was looking forward to Deer Creek Hot Springs that is apparently very popular among the locals too & tended to get crowded during the weekends, even though one has to hike in a mile or so from the trailhead parking (or hike 308 miles on PCT 🙂). Reached it early enough, but still it was chock full of people - locals & thru-hikers both - most of whom had camped there overnight in spite of it being a No Camping zone. People were lazing around in some of the pools in various states of undress, as it was a clothing optional area. It was way too crowded for me and I decided to head out. But, as I was heading out, I saw a small pool of water with nobody in it and the water was pleasantly hot (not just warm). Pool I "discovered" away from the crowds Close-up of the pool Me in the pool 😋 What a lovely feeling to be in a hot pool, especially after not having had a hot

Why you shouldn't (or should) thru-hike the PCT? (D-115: 2592.1 - 2613.1 - Nero @ Mazama, D-116: 2613.1 - 2642.6)

Over the last 116 days, I have had plenty of time to think about what's good or bad about this thru-hike and just in case, one of you is thinking about doing a PCT thru-hike, here are my thoughts about why you shouldn't or should do it.   Why you shouldn't do a PCT thru-hike - It is very tough physically and mentally - There is less than 50% chance that anyone starting it will finish - Almost everyone seems to have negative physical effects including weight loss, muscle loss, days & days of tired legs & feet etc - You will definitely get scratches, bruises and cuts, if you are lucky. If you are unlucky, major sprains, muscle tears & other hike-ending injuries. Btw, most people who stop do so 'cos of injuries. - You will trip & fall down multiple times (when the avg number of steps is 50000 - 70000/day over uneven paths, the law of large numbers takes over and some of those steps will lead to falls) - It is an expensive activity, with a bulk o

A thru-hike attempt... successful! (D-117: 2642.6 - 2653.6, D-117S (SOBO): 0 - 17.1, D-118S (SOBO): 17.1-30.6)

It is done! Finally, on August 10th, 2022, 117 days after I started at the US-Mexico border on April 16th, 2022, I reached the US-Canada border.  Walked 2653.6 miles (4270.6 km) south-to-north through the states of California, Oregon and Washington. No bittersweet moments...just sweet relief to be done 😀. We were few of the lucky thru-hikers this year who were able to go south-to-north continuously without any interruptions.  People who started even a couple of weeks earlier and maintained this pace hit a lot more snow in Seirras and a hell lot more in Washington, the latter being almost hike-stopping.  By the time we got to Seirras, the snow was much more manageable, and almost all the snow had melted in Washington.  People who started later or were slower have had to skip parts of Northern California due to forest fires. Even Oregon and Southern California have some fires starting already. Anyway, reached the northern terminus of the PCT yesterday morning around 8:40 am