Well, truth be told, we are having way too much fun on the Amtrak from Bakersfield to Seattle. We reserved a roomette for the slightly less than 30 hour train ride to Seattle.
I have never taken a long train ride like this, much less with our own little private space, so it has been a great new experience. It does feel a bit odd not to be on trail and to look at the mountains rather than be in them. Even more odd to think that we will be separated from the trail for a week or more.
The PCT has become our home. A part of my soul. At the same time, we are really looking forward to spending time with friends in Seattle, seeing The Xx in concert and celebrating my birthday. We haven’t made arrangements for how or when we are returning to trail but we know it won’t be very long. We both are enjoying hiking prior to the crowds setting in and the pleasant weather we have been fortunate to experience. We won’t stay gone too long! After enjoying our train ride we are both leaning towards another train back. Very relaxing and enjoyable. Doesn’t hurt that the scenery is great too.  Currently, we are passing through Portland. We won’t be updating the blog during our break, but as soon as we get back on our beloved trail you will know it. It’s been an unbelievable adventure that Daddie Gizmo and I have been on these last 5 1/2 weeks. It reinforced my belief that this is where I belong – in nature, exploring, meeting like-minded people and being free. We are both the happiest we have been in a long time. 

We will be picking up the trail where we left off…still a little less than 200 miles of desert to complete. More to come soon!!!❤️

Horse Spring to Hikertown

We woke up to overcast skies at about 6:30 am and knew we had a short day of only 9 miles today. After rolling over and going back for a snooze it was suddenly 10 am so time to get up and hit the trail.

Our camp spot was at 5200 ft so we had a long elevation loss, gain and loss again to get down to the desert floor and our next stopping point. It was cold to start, but we were in the heat of the day n sun once we were down about 2500 ft. We were lucky that there was a cool breeze that really helped us make good time today. We had also eaten our pack weight down over the previous 5 days so we were hiking light and fast. As we hit the backside foothills of the mountain we also reappeared into a mass of desert flowers.
We crisscrossed with Larry again who helped us out by sharing his water cache with us. By about 2 pm we cruised into Hikertown Hostel. It’s an odd little place but with a happy, generous host who showed us around, had 2 cold beers ready for us and some fresh made BBQ ribs. Showered, laundered and fed, we waited for 4 others in our second little Trail Family to get in. RocDoc and Larry arrived about the same time after a few hours and GalPal and WoodRat later. They had just come from the ER and learned that WoodRat had, indeed, fractured a bone in her foot and would need to see an Orthopedic Doc today. Wishing her well and a speedy recovery. Sad to know that it will take her and GalPal off the trail. We climbed into our nice Hostel “Honeymoon Suite” and were out cold eager to start the next day of our adventure to Seattle.