In the late hours of the night I awoke a couple of times to the sound of wind blowing the trees and something falling on the tent. When I got out of my tent at 7am, I saw a few flakes of snow and ice pellets next to the tent. Tabasco and I were on the trail at 7:30am, early considering it was cold and cloudy. Just a few minutes into the hike, continuing around Mt. Adams, snow began falling, lightly at first, then in earnest for about an hour. We climbed to 6200 feet and the 2 inches of snow already on the trail made hiking a little slower than normal, and forced us to use muscles in the legs not normally used.
Miles went fairly quickly and snow turned to intermittent light rain as the morning air warmed. The cloud deck, fortunately, was fairly high and when it wasn’t snowing or raining, we got some great views looking back north to Goat Rocks, covered in snow, as well as partial views of Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Hood. We took a mid- morning break at a trail junction with Stagmen Ridge Trail.
About the time we finished our break, the NOBO’s we expected to see, came around the bend. First it was Luke (now called Captain Poppins), who hiked several hundred miles with Tabasco. Then Salty Dog, with girlfriend Liz, arrived. A few minutes later Razz and Hombre joined the trail talk and hugs of greeting already in progress. I had met all four of these guys at Tuolomne Meadows when I tried getting back on trail in Yosemite back in July. All of us talked for well over an hour and celebrated our little brief reunion. Finally everyone was getting cold from standing, so we said our goodbyes and good lucks on finishing, then Tabasco and I pushed on.
Just after 2pm we neared the Road 23 crossing where we would be hitching to Trout Lake for our resupply. Phantom had told us he sat at the road crossing over an hour the other day and no cars came by in the direction of Trout Lake. Razz told us earlier this morning to expect a wait of 2 hours or more for a hitch. But as we were just a few feet from emerging from the forest to the road crossing, we heard a vehicle approaching. Tabasco quickly jogged 8 feet to the roadside, just as the pickup truck passed by and saw Tabasco’s thumb flailing for attention. The driver stopped the truck 50 yards past us, then put it in reverse to pick us up. Wham!!! Instant hitch! Fastest hitch ever for both of us, literally no waiting time. It was a cold ride 13 miles down the winding, barren road to the tiny village of Trout Lake. The driver let us out at the gas station with a small café attached.
I was hungry and we left our packs outside and went in for sandwiches, fries and for me a Huckleberry shake. While waiting for the meal to be brought to the table, I went outside to the pay phone to check my messages since the cell phone had no network coverage. As I headed back inside, there stood Happy and Badmoon, who had apparently gotten to the road crossing just after we did and luckily another car passed and gave them a ride to town. We were happy to see each other and they joined us for lunch. Then we all walked to the tiny post office up the street to retrieve letters and packages. From there we walked over a mile to the Trout Lake Motel to check in. The double queen room Tabasco and I got was the nicest room we’ve stayed in on the whole PCT. We spread out gear to dry and Happy did a load of laundry that included our dirty clothes.
Officially there is not internet access in town, but Dave, the owner, kindly let us check our email briefly behind his front desk check-in area. Since the Country Inn was advertising all you can eat spaghetti, we all decided the $5.25 special was too good to pass up. Fortunately the motel had bicycles with helmets for rent and gave us a good deal on the four bikes. Around 6:15 we cycled up the highway a couple miles and stopped briefly for beer at the small general store, before continuing on to the Country Inn. This rustic place has been around since 1904. Inside there was a pot bellied stove with a warm fire and a bar. A couple locals were at the bar and a couple more were throwing darts in a large back room with a wide screen TV, showing the baseball playoffs.
We ordered the spaghetti and spent the next couple hours eating spaghetti and salad, and having a beer. Finally about 8:45 we were ready to leave to go back to the room. It was very dark outside, no moon or stars, and the road was very, very dark. All four of us struggled to even identify our bikes, and the 2 mile ride in the dark down the highway was itself an adventure. We had no headlamps and could only faintly make out the white line on the side of the road, as we all spread out and talked all the way back to the motel, so we wouldn’t run into each other with the bikes.
Once back at the motel, Tabasco and I joined Happy and Badmoon in their room for a few beers, conversation, and 70’s music dialed in on the satellite TV’s, provided in the rooms. We finally left their room after midnight to call it a day. Today’s weather: morning, snow and rain; cloudy afternoon. Low 29, high 60. Today’s mileage: 15.4; cumulative 1740.1.
