Ending point: I10 overpass! Yeah! Troll party!
Daily: 19
Total: 209.5
Yup, we are sleeping under an overpass tonight. By choice.
We got walking by 8 this morning, about 45 minutes later than anyone else. By the end of the day, we had passed almost everyone. Today was 15 miles of stupid downhill - not just regular downhill. The maps we have have a little blurb on them about how the actual distance to the bottom of the hill is 4 miles, but the ridiculous switchbacks and roundabout route the PCT takes is 11 longer. We were so sick of it that we just tried to see how fast we could get to the bottom. That meant we passed everyone but a couple people.
It was hot today, but as soon as we got to the bottom, clouds started rolling in and it sprinkled on us. When we were told by a security guard that locals sometimes put trail magic under the overpass, we decided to push those four miles. We decided that also partly to get out of the wind, because, you see, this valley is called Windy Pass. There are hundreds wind generators lining the valley ridges and floor. The last four miles were flat and on sand and facing a strong headwind. Ugh. It's so hard to walk on sand already.
So when we got here and about 6 or 7 people were already here. One of them, Mr. F***ing Gentle Spirit (the name's a long story), hitched into town, saying he was bringing back burgers. Meanwhile, there were sodas and cold beer in coolers under the bridge. In an hour or so, Gentle Spirit came back with literally enough to fill about 15 thru-hikers stomachs and have some left over. Something like 30 burgers, 12 apple pies, and a bunch of fries. It was amazing. Burger King never tasted so good. I love how happy hikers get when they get some magic.
Anyway, it was another great night ending a hard but good day. Tomorrow we will see a steam big enough to swim in. I'm excited.
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