Day 77 - Markleeville to campsite near Blue Lakes Road

My breakfast burrito

After a long night's sleep, we finally got up and started our day. Neon and I went to the hotel's cafe, and had great breakfast burritos. We also got our laundry back, and I encountered Sandie's cat, Fiddle, as she was stalking the grass. She was very friendly and felt so soft. Second cat on the trail. May there be many more.

Fiddle, what a cute cat

We took our time getting our gear packed, and waited a bit for Neon to get his, and we headed out to try to hitch back up to the trail.

Together with Sandie

We made a nice cardboard sign of "PCT hikers to Ebbetts Pass", hoping it'll help us get a quick ride. There was nothing quick about it, but after about an hour a couple did pull over for us. They were on their way to one of the lakes after the pass, to let their two puppies play there for a bit. The husband just got into hiking several years ago, but then hurt his back in an accident, and he can't backpack anymore. The wife was still going out on some solo backpack trips.

Another selfie on the trail

They finally dropped us at the trail head at 11:50, and we were off. We knew we are not going to pull a long day today, the 24 miles we had planned before. So we aimed at getting to Blue Lakes Road after 17 miles.
I was happy to find my missing water bottle just where I lost it - under a rock in the stream. I used a hiking pole to get it out. I have been using the same water bottle since the start. So it will last for a few more miles now.

Neon took off straight away, carrying his super small pack. After a while I passed a mother and daughter pair on the trail. The daughter saw my AT patch and we started talking about that. Apparently her father has hiked a Grand Slam, and her mother had only to finish the PCT for hers. I didn't know that at first, but a Grand Slam is hiking a Triple Crown (AT, PCT and CDT) AND the American Discovery Trail, which runs from California to Delaware. That's a lot of trails and miles.
The hike itself wasn't too hard. There were plenty of short ups, but nothing major. And it makes all the difference, even when the daily elevation gain is similar to harder days.

We finally reached the road just after 18:00, and searched a bit further on the trail, for a good camp spot. We found one eventually. After starting late today, we were planning on getting closer to Tahoe tomorrow, and entering it on the following day. But we might just make a big day into town tomorrow after all.

Day 76 - wacs1028 to Markleeville

What a surprising day. We got rained on during half of it.
It all started in the night. It's fun to wake up in the tent and hear rain drops on the tent walls. But in the morning we got up to some drizzle and fog.
Just a bit after we started hiking, the rain started for real. It wasn't any hard rain, but it didn't stop for several hours, and it got a bit cold as well. It was fairly miserable. I kept trying to tell Idan that this is how it will probably be in Washington, At least some of the time, But Idan really suffered, and even wanted to stop mid day to just sit out the rain in our tents. And that's in a day we were planning to hike 22 miles.
We met Blush and Tea Popping along the way, and Blush told us about some campground that is supposedly right next to the road we were trying to reach. I don't know where she got that information, because it's not really there... Maybe she got mixed up with another trail head.
Idan suddenly recalled a small comment in Yogi's book about hitching into a small town called Markleeville, from the same highway. That seemed like a better plan.

A bit of trail, after the rain

About mid day the rain stopped. Right after we had our lunch break and I finished all my snacks for the day at once. A bit later it also started to clear a bit, and we actually saw some sunshine from time to time.
In total we climbed a lot today, but it felt easier than before. Maybe it was the rain and the cold, that kept minds occupied on other things than the climbs. But after a long day, we finally reached or destination at highway 4 just before 17:00.

Nice trees on the trail

The highway seemed deserted, and I was afraid we won't get a hitch. I was trying to fill my water bottle, and managed to lose it in the stream, just as Idan got the first car to stop. We got the luckiest hitch ever,
A very nice couple took us down to town. They are from Massachusetts, and travelling by car along California. They dropped us right in Markleeville, and we started looking for a room for the night.
The first place was full, but the bartender at the nearby restaurant was very helpful in finding the next motel's owner. We also got help from other bar patrons, and everyone were very friendly and nice.
We also met Neon, who got here earlier today. He is from Colorado, and we briefly met him before at Tuolumne store. We sat with him after dinner, and invited him over to sleep in our room.We got a great room at the nearby "Toll Station", at a great price. Sandie, the owner, did our laundry, let us dry our tents in the back and gave us beers.

A really nice little motel along the trail

In the room, we managed to get the TV working, by setting the dish remote control to operate it. I suspect it didn't work well for a long time now. Right now there's "Django Unchained" on TV, and it's way too late for us hikers to still be awake.

Neon and Idan, in our room