Aug 28th
The patter of rain woke me up this morning before the sun had risen. It was a light drizzle, but I grabbed a tent stake and put up the vestibule door to keep my pack and shoes dry. I poked Tomtit awake and handed him a stake as well, and then curled up again inside my sleeping bag. A few short hours later the forest lightened and I heard other hikers unzipping tents. Time to get up.
We had pitched our tent close to Wall-ee and Snow White so we all had breakfast together. Ten short miles lay between us and the forest service road to Trout Lake, where my cousin Shara had offered us a place to stay.
Five miles went by in a breeze then we took a quick water filtering break near a creek. The second five miles were mostly uphill, a very steep uphill, but at the top we got cell service. Hummingbird and KC were there at the top and had a foreboding weather report — rain was on the horizon, freezing conditions for the Goat Rock wilderness. Tomtit and I made the decision to spend a zero in Trout Lake to wait out the worst of the weather on Saturday. I called my cousin to set a rendezvous time and then we hustled to the road. When we got there we crossed to check out the trail closure and grab a map of the upcoming reroute.
We met Blazingstar and her two section hiking friends at the road and chatted for a few minutes until Shara pulled up. Hummingbird and KC were going into town as well so the four of us jumped into Shara’s car and she whisked us down the road to Trout Lake. Tomtit and I had a bit of grocery shopping to do, and KC and Hummingbird were getting a room above the store, so my cousin stopped at the little market in town. We ran in and grabbed food for the next stretch to White Pass as well as food for the stay in Trout Lake. Then it was back in the car and off to Shara’s place. She had delicious food waiting there and we had lunch with my Aunt and Shara’s daughter.
Tomtit and I both took showers and relaxed with my family for a few hours. Sadly we had gotten to town a day too late because they had to leave in the evening, but Shara offered us the house to stay in until the weather looked better! It was really nice to see them and hang out even if it was a few short hours. Before Shara left she took us to the neighbor’s house and introduced us to Steve, who volunteered to drive us back to town on Sunday! We had another delicious meal and then said our goodbyes. Tomtit and I did some laundry, made a frozen pizza (second dinner for us hikers) and read a few books from the bookshelf. Before we knew it, it was bed time. We are so lucky to have family who are supportive of this hike and who go out of their way to help us : )
Jill and RT PCT 